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Paper IX Counselling Psychology English Version
Paper IX Counselling Psychology English Version
SEMESTER - V (CBCS)
PSYCHOLOGY PAPER- IX
COUNSELLING
PSYCHOLOGY
SUBJECT CODE : UAPS506
© UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
Prof. Suhas Pednekar
Vice Chancellor
University of Mumbai, Mumbai.
Prof. Ravindra D. Kulkarni Prof. Prakash Mahanwar
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Director
University of Mumbai. IDOL, University of Mumbai.
*****
Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)
T.Y.B.A. Counselling Psychology Syllabi to be implemented from 2022-2023
Paper IX: Counselling Psychology: Part I
(Major Elective; Applied Component)
Learning Objectives:
1. To have students develop an interest in and an understanding of Counselling concepts
2. To have students understand counsellor’s roles and responsibilities in practice environments
3. To have students build knowledge and understanding of the basic skills in practice
4. To help students understand the theoretical foundations underlying different counselling and
psychotherapeutic approaches
5. To create a foundation in students for higher education in Counselling and a career as a professional
counselor
Semester 5
Counselling Psychology:
Part I- Introduction and Approaches to counselling (Credits = 3.5) (3 lectures per week)
Unit 3 Systemic, Brief, Crisis Theories and Group Counselling(Gladding, chapters10 &11)
a) Systems theories, brief counselling approaches, Crisis and trauma counselling approaches.
b) A brief history of groups, benefits, drawbacks and types of groups. Theoretical approaches in
conducting groups, stages in groups.
Unit 4 Counselling in Diverse Groups (Gladding, Chapters 5 & 19)
a) Counselling aged populations, gender-based counselling, counselling and sexual orientation.
b) Abuse & Addiction Counselling
*****
1
INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING - I
Unit Structure
1.0 Objective
1.1 Introduction/ Helping/ basics of Helping
1.1.1 Role of formal and informal helpers
1.1.2 Key Ingredients of Successful Helping
1.1.3 Focus on Client and Context – What Client Brings in Sessions
1.1.4 Defining Success in Terms of Outcomes with Life Enhancing
Impact for the Client
1.1.5 Qualities of an Effective Helper
1.2 Role of Beliefs, Values, Norms, and Moral Principles in the Helping
Process
1.2.1 Helping Clients Redo Poor Decisions and Make and Execute
Life-Enhancing Decisions
1.3 Summary
1.4 Questions
1.5 References
1.0 OBJECTIVES
To provide an introduction to formal an informal helping
To provide an introduction to distinct features of helping as a
profession
To help in learning about the key elements of successful helping
To provide a basic idea of the various factors involved in helping
Problem situations:
Clients come to seek help with crisis, troubles, doubts, or concerns they
might be facing. Problems in our lives are not always straightforward and
may not have a clear-cut solution. They are complex, causing great
emotional distress. Clients come to therapy with ‘problem situations’, the
complex problems of living that they are unable to handle well. At times,
client’s problems might not be defined well, that is, not clearly
understood. Or it could be that even though the problems are well defined,
clients might not know how to handle them. Clients might also feel they
do not have enough resources to deal with their problems adequately.
There might be clients who have tried certain solutions which may not
have worked for them. Hence, such complex, emotionally distressing
problems and client’s understanding, ability to deal with problems,
resources, and past experiences might influence clients to seek help.
Problem situations might arise out of our interactions with oneself, like
self-doubt, fears, or stress of an illness. Problems situations may also arise
out of our interactions with other people, like discord with peers, failing
marriages, domestic abuse, or problems at work due to office politics.
Larger social environment, institutions or organizations also contribute to
problems of living like economic crisis, being discriminated against as a
result of caste, gender or disability, and so on. Although these and other
issues might be experienced by the client, it is not always the person
dealing with these problems who seeks help. At times clients might be
referred – or sent to get help by teachers, supervisors and courts. For
example, a child who is not able to adjust in school might be sent to see
the school counselor.
It is also important to note that helping does not always mean ‘solving’
problems. It is to help the person in the problem situation manage them
more effectively. As mentioned above, since problem situations are
complex and do not always have a ‘solution’, one must be able to manage
them in the best way they can. At times, we can even move beyond our
problems and make use of new opportunities in life.
Example 1.1:
Carol was experiencing burnout after working as a helper in several
mental health centres for ten years. Her counselor tried to find out more
about her career and the time she felt best about herself. For carol it was
when she was asked to help provide help for other mental health centres
that were experiencing problems or were reorganizing. The counselor
helped her explore her potential as a consultant to human-service
organizations and make a career adjustment. Carol enrolled in an
organization development program at a local university. In this program
she learned not only a great deal about how organizations work (or fail to
work) but also how to adapt her skills to organizational settings. Carol
stayed in the helping field, but with a new focus and a new set of skills.
{Adapted from/ Source: Egan, G., Reese, R. J., (2019) The Skilled
Helper: A Problem-Management and Opportunity-Development Approach
to Helping (11th Edition), Cengage Learning, Boston}
In this example, the counselor was able to help carol deal with her
problems of burnout and guilt by helping her identify, explore and develop
a new opportunity – that is, a new career where she could adapt her skills.
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1.1.4 Defining Success in Terms of Outcomes with Life Enhancing Introduction to
Impact for the Client: Counselling - I
9
Counselling Psychology Help clients become better at helping themselves in their everyday lives.
Clients may not always be experts at problem solving. At times, they
might not be able to effectively use the problem solving skills they possess
during times of crisis. In everyday situations, we usually go about dealing
with problems of living as they arrive. We often do not stop to ponder
when a certain strategy to solving problem fails. However, during crisis
situations, we might not have the option of moving on, stepping back,
lowering our self-imposed standards or asking for help. An ordinary
person may not always take a systematic approach to problem solving
unless educated to do so. However, these skills are not usually taught.
Hence, helpers need to impart a working knowledge of these skills to help
clients move forward. ‘Counselors are only skilled to the extent they can
be successful in skilling clients’ (Nelson-Jones, 2005). Hence, successful
helping equips the clients with tools to be effective ‘self-helpers’.
10
10
• An effective therapist acts in ways to build trust with clients, which is Introduction to
an important element of treatment. Counselling - I
11
Counselling Psychology • Along with self-awareness an effective helper is aware of their
personal motivations, values, worldviews, biases and their possible
impact on professional decisions.
• In order to employ evidence based practice, a skilled therapist knows
the best research related to the client: the client’s personality, their
problems, the social context, and possible treatments.
• Psychology is an ever-evolving field. And hence an efficient therapist
must be committed to professional self-improvement and actively
work towards updating knowledge based on current developments in
the field.
• The effective helper also has adequate procedural knowledge of
necessary actions to take in the situation at hand. For example, a
counselor who usually greets her clients with a handshake notices that
a new client appears visibly nervous, has a shaky voice, is having
difficulty making eye contact and is holding a handkerchief in his
hand. The counselor might consider that he may be perspiring and
shaking his damp hand might make him feel embarrassed and decide
to probably use a non-contractual way of welcoming him.
• An effective helper also has a solid grasp of the key ingredients of
successful therapy and, knows how to tailor them to serve the clients.
These are some of the essential qualities that a therapist must possess.
There is, however, no ‘fixed list’ or the ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ set of
characteristics. The judgement of whether or not someone is a good
therapist depends on the client’s preferences as well. The therapist’s
competence does is not merely determined by their knowledge of
particular theories, but is also related to meeting the needs of client. A
competent therapist must also recognize that the client is experiencing
certain symptoms, but needs to be careful not to misinterpret their
symptoms as their identity. Being a counselor is an impactful role and
comes with various responsibilities. A competent counselor is cognisant of
this fact.
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1.2.1 Helping Clients Redo Poor Decisions and Make and Execute Introduction to
Life-Enhancing Decisions: Counselling - I
Client decision-making:
Clients are faced with many decisions while in or even before coming to
therapy. Deciding to come to therapy (unless mandated to do so by court
for instance), deciding about whether or not to talk about a particular issue
with a counselor, determining the elements of their future goals, to plan
and work on achieving these goals, telling you whether the therapeutic
process is working for them or not, and choosing to continue being in
therapy till these goals are achieved. Hence the client has to make a
number of decisions not just regarding their lives but also the elements of
therapy itself. It is essential to acknowledge and at times, even appreciate
these decisions of the client. In order to make clients better problem
solvers of their lives, it is necessary to help them become better decision
makers.
Each client, who comes to therapy will bring with them different decision
making styles. It is necessary to understand these decision making styles
to facilitate change in the client’s life. It is important to remember that you
as a helper cannot implement client’s decisions for them. Nor do you
decide for a client. An effective helper assists their clients in deciding for
themselves what would lead to life enhancing outcomes.
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Counselling Psychology Helper decision making:
Like clients, helpers too are in a constant mode of decision making
throughout the counselling process. Helpers select an approach to therapy,
like behaviour therapy, for instance, and constantly make decisions to fit
this approach based on their client’s problem situations. Like everyday
life, therapeutic encounter and process also presents us with numerous
options. Understanding how you choose among them and what influences
you in making decisions is an important aspect of helper self-knowledge.
You might be faced with a range of options like wanting to help your
clients make decisions that beneficial for them and avoid the ones that
might be limiting. You might want to help them face certain decisions
they have been avoiding. You might also want them to explore the
possible beneficial and harmful consequences of the decisions they have
made or are trying to implement. However, you would also want to do all
of this without making decisions for your clients. That is, without
undermining their authority as the decision maker of their own life.
Wenzel (2013) speaks about ‘strategic’ decision making as a helper, which
according to her is, ‘a flexible yet evidence based approach to working
through decision points in order to move treatment forward.’ Strategic
here means decisions that have been taken after having a detailed
understanding of the client’s situation decided by client and therapist
allows the client to learn something new in the session and are carefully
considered before their evaluating their effectiveness. Additionally, there
are certain ‘decision points’ which include times when an approach isn’t
working, when the client doesn’t understand or accept the rationale for
interventions or when the focus has to be shifted due a crisis. A helper
needs to be flexible and prepare to choose an alternate option when things
do not work out the way they planned.
A range of decisions are required on behalf of the therapist when
responding to clients. To do so effectively, a counselor needs to be skilled
and have adequate experience in the give and take of helping process.
Lastly, decision making process will be always be marked with
uncertainty. We cannot always be certain of the outcomes of our
decisions, there might be some factors which we may not have foreseen or
there might be influences we are unaware of. You as a decision maker are
also required to be prepared for such complexities and ambiguities of
situations.
Example 1.2:
Karl feels that being disconnected from community and being a loner is a
big contributing factor to his current problem situation. He needs to make
a decision about the kind of social life he desires. He liked spending time
with friends and family before he joined army. Karl is also an introverted
person and did not feel happy about too much socialization, like accepting
too many invitations to events or dinners. He also realised that he was
relatively passive while socializing. This also resulted in others taking
charge of the social encounter – like the topics they would discuss,
deciding where to go, or how much time they would spend together and so
on. Karl gathered information about various aspects of his social life
including the fact that he did not like being a loner – or not associating
with people. He is an introvert and prefers few interactions but does not
want to have a disconnected social life altogether
Analysis:
Once you have all the information you need, you would have to organize
this information to help you with decision making. This involves
processing the information gathered. This can look like thinking about the
information you have gathered or discussing it with trusted formal or
informal resources, or any way you prefer. This is an important step to
help you clarify the range of possible choices you have. For example,
'what advantages or disadvantages would I have in going ahead with either
of these options?' similarly, Karl in the above example might think about
the possible upsides of being passive in a social situation – people did not
invade his space or he was free to leave when he wished. On the other
hand this seemed self-centred to Karl. Being more involved or social had
an upside of making intelligent contribution to conversations. Hence, Karl
could decide a course of action based on what suits him best.
Making a choice:
Making a choice involves committing oneself to an internal or external
course of action. It involves thinking about the possible consequences of
actions. Values also play an important role in analysing options as they are
the criteria and incentives for making decisions. In the above example,
Karl’s values about what constitutes self-centred behaviour also contribute
to him choosing more others-oriented options.
Follow through:
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Counselling Psychology Action is the last step of effective decision making. This means successful
life enhancing outcomes in therapy. Decision making without action is just
wishful thinking. The more time it takes to implement a decision, higher
will be the chances of doing nothing. Counselors can help clients talk
about the consequences of doing nothing or giving up. Clients would need
to be supported through their process of implementing a decision. For
example, Karl could start implementing his goals of being more active
socially by talking to friends from army share similar experiences as him.
He did not want to socialize with friends and family at a superficial level.
Hence he could start small at the process of what he terms ‘normalization’
but in the way he prefers.
These steps mentioned above follow a ‘direct’ or rational approach. Kay
(2011) claims that most of the times in human affairs it is better to follow
an ‘indirect’ approach and problem management.
1.3 SUMMARY
Helping is an innate part of human nature. Some people are more natural
or effective helpers who we turn to in times of need. Helping is also
institutionalized as a formal profession. Helpers can be professionals,
either directly involved in helping people manage problems of living or
those who are involved in different professions but provide help during
crisis situations. Lastly, informal helpers are people in our lives – family,
friends, peers, co-workers, who we approach to for help on a daily basis.
A major part of the help that we receive in our life is from these informal
sources.
Helping professionals are distinct from informal helpers on the dimensions
of – formality of helping, expanded goals of professional helping, and the
process of helping and characteristics of the helper.
Certain key ingredients contribute to successful helping. These are
common across helping process regardless of the therapeutic orientation of
the counselor. They need to be adapted according to the needs of every
client.
Client is the most important ‘ingredient’ of therapy and the therapeutic
endeavours need to be client-focused. Clients bring with them a range of
known and unknown personal, social, attitudinal, cultural, relational and
situational factors to therapy. Problem situations or unused opportunities
may cause clients to seek help.
Life enhancing outcomes determine the success of helping endeavour.
Counselors can work on these goals along with helping clients become
better at helping themselves and developing an action oriented prevention
mentality.
Some skills set an effective helper apart from others. These include
interpersonal skills, working in collaboration with clients, being
knowledgeable, understanding role of different contexts, respecting
client’s autonomy, inviting feedback and self-awareness among others.
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Counselling Psychology Values influence how we interact with clients and our view of the
counselling process. The counselor must work towards self-awareness and
not let values affect the counselling process. Counselor must provide a
safe space to the clients for exploring their values and beliefs. Goals of
therapy must be set in consideration of client’s values which are important
to them.
Decision making is a defining part of our life and the process of
counselling. The client and the counselor are required to make certain
decisions throughout the process of therapy. Rational approach to decision
making involves Problem Identification and Information Gathering,
analysis, making a choice and follow through. Decision making styles may
differ from person to person and styles of making decisions along with the
way these decisions affect or contribute to progress must be explored.
Counselling, as Egan and Reese rightly put, is a science and an art. A
counselor must possess a number of skills and knowledge along with the
right attitudes to practice this science creatively.
1.5 REFERENCES
1) Egan, G., & Reese, R. J., (2019) The Skilled Helper: A Problem-
Management and Opportunity-Development Approach to Helping
(11th Edition), Cengage Learning, Boston
2) Parsons, R. D., & Zhang, N., (2014) Becoming a Skilled Counselor,
Sage, USA. p. 3-30
3) Corey, G., (2017) Theory and Practice of Counselling and
Psychotherapy (10th Edition) Cengage learning, Boston. p. 22-24
*****
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2
INTRODUCTION TO COUNSELLING - II
Unit Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 The Helping Relationship
2.1.1 The Value of the Relationship
2.1.2 As a Means to an End: The Relationship
2.2 Developing Working Alliance
2.2.1 How Values Are the Tools of The Trade?
2.2.2 Determining the Essential Values of Successful Helping
2.3 Key Values That Drive the Working Alliance
2.4 Respect as a Basic Value
2.4.1 Behaviour Showing Disrespect
2.4.2 Behaviour showing Respect
2.5 Appreciating the Role of Culture, Personal Culture and Values
2.6 Competencies Related to Clients’ Diversity and Culture.
2.6.1 Understand and Appreciate the Diversity
2.6.2 Identify and Challenge any Diversity Blind Spots One May
Have
2.6.3 Make Your Interventions as Diverse as Possible
2.6.4 Individualised Work
2.6.5 Specific Multicultural Competencies
2.7 Promoting Self-Responsibility by Helping Clients Develop and Use
Self-Efficacy
2.8 Summary
2.9 Questions
2.10 References
2.0 OBJECTIVES
To learn and understand the helping process
To learn and understand the values that develop the helping
relationship
To learn and understand the behaviours considered as respectful and
disrespectful
To learn and understand about the counselors’ competencies
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Counselling Psychology
2.1 THE HELPING RELATIONSHIP
Although theorists, researchers, practitioners, and clients all agree that the
client-counselor relationship is crucial, there are significant variations in
how this relationship should be represented and acted out in the helping
process. Some focus on the partnership itself, while others emphasise the
work that is accomplished as a result of the relationship. Some people call
it a "partnership," while others call it a "working alliance."
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Counselling Psychology 2.2.1 How Values are the tools of the trade? :
Values-in-action are more than just mental states. They are tools that help
people make better decisions. They encourage helping behaviour that
benefits the clients. Consider the following example:
Example 2.1
During a session with a challenging client, a counselor might tell himself
or herself something like this:
This client needs to confront her haughty, "I'm always right" mentality. It
skews her judgement and taints her connections. It keeps her engrossed in
her issues. It is crucial how I give her feedback or, perhaps more
importantly, how I encourage her to challenge herself. On the one hand, I
don't want to jeopardise our friendship; on the other hand, I appreciate
honesty and transparency. I don't want to diminish her, but I owe it to her
to help her in seeing herself through the eyes of others. But I must do so
in the proper manner and at the appropriate moment. How can I help her
in "discovering" this aspect of her personality?
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Counselling Psychology Example 2.2
A client says something arrogantly at the first session: "I say whatever I
want, whenever I want, when I'm dealing with other people. If others don't
like it, that's their issue to solve. Being the person I am, my primary
responsibility is to myself."
Counselor A (is irritated by a client's behaviour and comments): You
have just pinpointed the source of your issue! With this kind of self-
centred philosophy, how can one expect to get along with others?"
Counselor B: So being yourself is a top priority for one, and being
completely honest is a part of that.
Because culture is the form of variety that attracts the most attention, it is
critical to comprehend the meaning of the term. On both the individual
and social levels, it is described by Bronfenbrenner as the "biggest and
most controlling of the systems." Again, there are many alternative
definitions of culture, but counselors require definitions that can be used in
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Counselling Psychology the field. Culture is defined by values, but it is also more than that. Briefly,
the wider concept of culture is as follows: Shared ideas and assumptions
combine with shared values to create shared norms that guide behaviour
patterns. Culture is frequently attributed to societies, institutions,
companies, professions, groups, families, and the like, rather than to
individuals. Counselors, on the other hand, work with people and small
groups of persons, such as families, rather than civilizations. So, if we
apply this fundamental cultural framework to a single person. It follows
such as:
● People build assumptions and beliefs about themselves, other people,
and the environment around them during the course of their lives. For
example, Isaiah, a client with posttraumatic stress disorder as a result
of gang activity in his area and a horrific attack, has come to believe
that the world is a cruel place.
● In addition, values that people value are acquired or instilled along
one's life journey. For example, Shirish has come to value or price
personal security as a result of the threats he confronts in his
neighbourhood.
● Assumptions and beliefs, in combination with values, provide
behavioural norms, or the "dos" and "don'ts" that we carry with us.
For example, one of these, according to Shirish, is "Don't trust
anyone." Counselors are going to get harmed."
● These norms shape internal and external behaviour, and these
behaviours are, in a sense, the "bottom line" of personal or individual
culture "the way I live my life." For example, for Shirish, this means
always being on the defensive when he's among people. It also entails
not taking risks with others. He has a tendency to be a loner.
Personal cultures do not emerge in a vacuum since no one is an island.
The organisations to which people belong have a big influence on their
ideas, values, and conventions. Individuals from every culture can and do
personalise the beliefs, values, and customs of the societies in which they
live. These beliefs, values, and conventions are tailored differently by
people within the same society. Individuals are not clones of one another
in terms of culture. Personal cultures of people from the same social
culture might be very different. Effectiveness helps gain a thorough
understanding of their clients' cultural backgrounds as well as their
personal cultures. For example, Shirish has many of his family's, ethnic
groups, neighbourhood's, schools, and socioeconomic class's cultural
qualities, but he is not a carbon duplicate of any of them. His mix is one of
a kind.
Because patterns of behaviour are the "bottom line" of culture, "the way
we do things here" is a frequent definition of societal, institutional, and
familial culture. "The way I choose to live my life," this term applies to
the particular client. Counselors, too, have their own particular cultures as
counselors, which is "the way I do helping," despite being impacted by the
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28 cultures of the many helping professions. For better or worse, the
counselors’ social-personal-professional culture will invariably intersect Introduction to
with the clients. Counselling - II
2.6.2 Identify and challenge any diversity blind spots one may have:
Because help and clients often differ in a variety of ways, it can be
difficult to avoid diversity-related blind spots, which can lead to
ineffective interactions and interventions during the helping process. For
example, a physically appealing and extroverted counselor may be blind to
a physically unattractive and introverted client's social flexibility and self-
esteem. Such blind spots are addressed in a lot of the literature on diversity
and multiculturalism. Counselors might benefit from becoming more
conscious of their own cultural beliefs and prejudices. They should also
make every attempt to comprehend their clients' worldviews. Counselors
who have diversity blind spots are at a disadvantage. Counselors should be
aware of the key ways in which they differ from their clients as a matter of
course, and take great care to be sensitive to those differences.
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● Examine your own cross-cultural and personal-culture competency, Introduction to
and work to improve in all of the areas mentioned. Counselling - II
To put it another way, work with one’s clients as they are, but do not
apologise for who one are. Maintain a straightforward approach. When we
add together all of the cultural competency principles discovered in the
psychology literature.
Everyone is a member of numerous groups, nation, area, gender, religion,
age cohort, and occupation, to mention a few each of which has a distinct
cultural influence that may be complimentary, conflicting, or congruent
with the others. Each person interprets each impact and determines if and
how personal beliefs should respond to each of these forces. As a result,
each person is a unique blend of various influences. Individual beliefs are
products of individuals' minds, while culture helps to regulate communal
life. Because of this complication, inferring a person's cultural orientation
from information about any group to which he or she is thought to belong
is never a safe bet.
Begin with the assumption that clients can change their minds if they
so desire:
Clients have more resources than they and sometimes their counselors
think for dealing with issues in daily life and discovering opportunities.
The basic attitude of the counselors should be that clients have the
resources to participate cooperatively in the helping process and to better
manage their lives. These resources could be blocked in a number of ways,
or they could just be unused. The role of the counselors is to help clients in
identifying, releasing, and cultivating these resources. The counselors also
help clients in properly assessing their resources, so that their ambitions do
not outpace their abilities.
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Focus on learning rather than helping: Introduction to
Counselling - II
While many people consider helping to be a form of education, it is more
accurately described as a form of learning. Counselling that is effective
aids clients in getting back on track with their studies. Learning,
unlearning, and relearning take place during both the helping sessions and
the period between them.
2.8 SUMMARY
The field of Counselling is almost synonymous to helping – the
relationship between the counselors and the counselees is called a helping
relationship for the same reason. Apart from the end goal of counselling,
to help the clients for future crisis situation it is extremely important for
the two to have mutual respect and value the relationship, while gaining
more understanding of each other from their personal values traits and also
cultures as all these factors contribute in the trust building and creating a
smooth rapport between the two, which only strengthen the relationship.
It is also of utmost importance to focus on the needs of clients as we work
through the process which is why the counselling process is popularly
called as a working alliance, so the counselors must focus on: i) keeping
track of the clients’ changing demands and desires, ii) concentrating on the
available resources, iii) not being shocked if different people have
different perspectives on the relationship, iv) not being surprised if their
relationship with the clients has ups and downs, and v) expecting and
responding to negative client feedback.
To value and respect the relationship, counselors must invest in
understanding the core values as well as the focus on behaviours that are
considered as unhealthy for the relationship and should be avoided. They
should not harm or mistreat the clients. Also, they should avoid immediate
jumping to Judgement.
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Counselling Psychology While keeping up with the behaviours that are healthy, counselors should
i) become knowledgeable and dedicated, ii) keep the clients’ goals in
mind, iii) act/ be genuine, iv) assume the clients’ goodwill, v) make it
evident that they are working "for" the clients.
Even though the counselors must help the clients at every stage, it
becomes incredibly important that the clients do not develop any
dependency. The counselors must attempt to make the clients aware about
their responsibility and promote self- efficacy.
2.9 QUESTIONS
2.10 REFERENCE
Egan, G. & Reese, R. J. (2019).The Skilled Counselor: A Problem-
Management and Opportunity-Development Approach to Helping.(11th
Edition) Cengage Learning.
Gladding, S. T. (2014). Counselling: A Comprehensive Profession.
(7thEd.). Pearson Education. New Delhi: Indian subcontinent version by
Dorling Kindersley India
*****
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3
PSYCHOANALYTIC, ADLERIAN,
HUMANISTIC, BEHAVIORAL AND
COGNITIVE THEORIES OF
COUNSELLING - I
Unit Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Psychoanalytic theories
3.2 Adlerian theory
3.3 Humanistic theories
3.3.1 Person-Centred Theory
3.3.2 Existential approach
3.3.3 Gestalt Theory
3.4 Summary
3.5 Questions
3.6 References
3.0 OBJECTIVE
To learn and understand various theories and its features
To learn and understand about the founder of each theory
To learn and understand the goals, strengths and limitations
Founder:
Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) who is considered as the founder of
psychoanalysis, was an Austrian neurologist. It is believed that Freud’s
family, especially his father, was a key factor in the development of his
theory. He himself faced various psychosomatic disorders and fears that
resulted in the development of his theory and also contributed in
understanding the development of personality dynamics.
a) Id:
Based on pleasure principals, Id is present from birth and is based on
unconscious, Id can be viewed as impulses especially sexual urges and
aggression which have a constant need to be gratified but since an
individual must behave adhering to the norms set by our society, it is
difficult to respond to the immediate gratification of those impulses. Since
Id aims to avoid pain and gain pleasure it is not rational or logical hence
an individual would only feel the urge to satisfy the instinctual need.
b) Ego:
Since Id is like a spoiled child who only focuses on its desire without any
logic, Ego does the job of regulating or controlling the demands of the Id.
Based on the reality principle, Ego is like a manger that satisfies the
demands of the Id but in a way that is also appropriate to the norms of the
society which is why Ego is considered as logical and rational.
c) Superego:
The superego is governed by the morality principle, which includes the
values and traditions etc. of an individual. The superego takes into account
if certain behaviours are right or wrong. These morals are generally
adopted from elders and teachers; the superego can make us feel guilty if
we fail to behave in ways appropriate to the superego. Imagine yourself in
a situation where you have lied to your parents and felt bad about it since
you were always taught to be honest; it is your superego that made you
feel that way. To avoid superego being tough on you, ego acts as a bridge
between the Id and superego.
Psychosexual stages: The ideas and views of Sigmund Freud were
certainly revolutionary but also controversial especially during the 19th
century, the psychosexual stages for example which focuses on the
childhood experiences and how do children mature sexually.
i) Denial:
When individuals are faced with harsh reality for example, having been
diagnosed with a serious illness the person may deny the fact. Denial can
help us lower the anxiety as we do not accept the real problem but having
said that, not facing or dealing with real problems can eventually increase
the intensity of the existing problem. Also not accepting the unpleasant
realities does not stop them from coming.
iii) Regression:
Try to recall a situation where you behaved like a child just to get that
added attention especially when facing an illness or during some medical
treatment, that is when you probably used one defense mechanism.
Regression is basically to revert to an earlier stage of your development;
childhood for example. It might help you get additional care and concern
from your caregivers or medical supervisors but if you start applying the
same behaviour in places where you must take accountability of your
actions, it can backfire.
iv) Displacement:
Individuals often experience anger or dislike for the authority figures in
their life, but naturally it is difficult to express your true feelings to them
which is when people choose to express their real feelings to someone
junior or less threatening. Let us see an example. Rakesh is angry at his
manager as he did not allow him any freedom in the project assigned to
him which resulted in less innovation and can affect his appraisal in
coming months. Rakesh ends up being rude and does not cooperate with
his interns on an existing project. This is displacement, when you express
your impulses to someone who is less threatening or not an authority.
v) Repression:
Repression is the basic defense mechanism among all. When individuals
forget or try to throw away memories of pain, trauma from their conscious
is known as repression. In simple terms to repress anything, that is painful,
and not having it in our conscious thought. For example, a woman reading
newspaper about a girl child abuse case, might simply take it as any other
news while not realizing that she herself has gone through some amount of
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40
child abuse as she does not have those memories present in her conscious Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
thought. The only issue is repressed memories and thoughts are always Humanistic, Behavioral and
present in our unconscious mind and may turn up as we dream, or face Cognitive Theories of
Counselling - I
anxiety/ stress.
vi) Projection:
As the name goes, projection is a defense mechanism where an individual
projects their impulses, often the ones that are unacceptable towards the
other person. Take hypocrisy for example; a man who accepts some form
of bribe is also lecturing his subordinates to work honestly since he does
not like being corrupt or dishonest.
vii) Rationalization:
Rationalization is a defense mechanism where one uses a rational thought
to justify their disappointments. A person when not selected for a job
might explain it by saying that they did not like the culture of the firm and
even if selected would have not joined the firm.
viii) Sublimation:
It refers to diverting sexual or aggressive energy into other channels.
Using this defense mechanism, energy is usually diverted into socially
acceptable and sometimes even admirable channels. For example, such
aggressive impulses can be channeled into athletic activities to enable
person to find a way of expressing aggressive feelings and getting praised
for athletic activities as like an added bonus.
ix) Introjection:
Introjection refers to taking in and “swallowing” the values and standards
of others. Its positive forms include incorporation of parental values or the
attributes and values of the therapists. A negative example of introjection
is the concentration camps where some of the prisoners dealt with
overwhelming anxiety by accepting the values of enemy through
identification with the aggressor.
x) Identification:
It is identifying with successful causes, organizations, or people in the
hope that the person will be perceived as worthwhile. Identification can
thus enhance self-worth and protect one from a sense of being a failure.
Gender-roles behaviours learned by children as a part of developmental
process is an example of introjection. On the other hand, introjection also
can be a defensive reaction when used by people who feel basically
inferior.
xi) Compensation:
This last defense mechanism refers to masking perceived weaknesses or
developing certain positive traits to make up for limitations. It can have
direct adjustive value, and it can also be an attempt by the persons to make
41
Counselling Psychology other people to see their accomplishments rather than looking at ways they
are or could be inferior.
Role of Counselor:
Let us understand the role of counselors and also the various techniques
that are applied with the clients. Counselors who practice Freudian
psychoanalysis and its techniques have two major goals, e.g., to help the
clients understand and accept the reality which is the role of ego which
means the behaviour must be based on reality and not irrational thoughts.
Secondly, to discuss and interpret the childhood experiences or
unconscious material as Freud would call them, so the clients can work on
solving the problems instead of simply putting them in the unconscious
mind and also to learn new behaviours. The counselors, generally asks the
clients to lie on the couch to get insights that is to get a deeper
understanding of their earlier experiences especially the childhood ones.
The counselors assist the clients by making them aware about their
unconscious experiences or memories and also to face it, resolve it.
Role of counselor:
Counselors or therapists who follow the school of Alfred Adler give
attention towards the mistakes or incorrect assumptions the clients might
have about their surroundings or themselves, and encourage them to
identify and eventually correct those mistakes. For example, a client who
is unhappy because he feels unsatisfied with his work growth could be a
result of unrealistic goals which must be corrected in order to be satisfied.
Another important task a counselor must focus on is the collection of
client information, starting from family, siblings and the overall life view.
After interpreting the information of the clients, the counselors get a better
understanding of the issues faced by clients, also the problem areas and
the aspects that are well handled or performed better.
The therapists generally use a method for assessments which is known as
“Early recollection”, something like life stories at a particular time or
period. The important thing about Early recollections is that they are
recollection of the clients' specific incidents that took place along with the
feelings the clients had in the early years once again these recalls help
understand the problems as well as the strengths of the individuals; this
entire process is a part of something termed as “lifestyle assessment”.
The Adlerian counselors believe in having an equal relationship with the
clients, it is almost like two equals who are cooperating and moving
towards a well-thought goal. The counselors not only help the clients in
identifying the gaps, but also the ultimate life goal to the clients in a way
to help them achieve the best of themselves.
Goals:
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44
As of now, we understand that the utmost goal of Adlerian theory/ therapy Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
is to help individuals live a healthy life with conscious thought about Humanistic, Behavioral and
themselves and others which would even include the surrounding Cognitive Theories of
environment. Apart from that, to help individuals overcome the faulty Counselling - I
style of life is also another goal, meaning a person should not live with
unrealistic goals, incorrect understanding of self and others or even being
inferior or superior to anyone. Also, as a basic principle of counselling,
Adlerian approaches goals to play the role of an interpreter but eventually
the client is the person in charge.
Techniques:
The Adlerian counselors play supportive, collaborative roles; they build
an egalitarian relationship with the clients. Counselling in this approach is
like equal goal setting and achieving. Apart from these, there are various
techniques that are prominent is Adlerian theory,
a) Encouragements: The counselors’ optimistic vibe can make a world
of a difference, especially with those clients who have faced negative
views about themselves or are generally low in confidence.
b) Acting “as ifs”: It is an original work by Hans Vaihinger from whom
Adler took the concept of making the clients feel themselves exactly
as they dream of being in reality.
c) Spitting in the client's soup : A way of pointing out or exposing
some sort of behaviour of the clients, which they may choose to
repeat but naturally without any reward.
d) Catching oneself : Instead of the counselors, it is the job of the
clients to be aware and catch harmful behaviours, feelings etc.
e) Task setting: Setting short term and later on long term goals which
when achieved with restructured behaviour ends the therapy.
f) Push button: A learnt choice by the clients to focus or give
importance to any selected subject or object, hence push button.
Strength:
There is a wide population that can benefit from this approach, for
example those having issues with relationships, or even people who are
addicts.
The approach is best suited for groups, group learning as seen from his
extensive group work, specifically with children. The practitioner who
follows this approach has a more positive perspective towards life in
general which is helpful and clients do find encouragement from it. As
discussed earlier, the approach is applicable to various groups of the
society that would include children, older adults and even families.
The approach can be a guide for treatments to various disorders. Adlerian
theory is broad in nature, and we can allow factors such age, culture,
45
Counselling Psychology sexual orientations and many others to be discussed and if problems are
identified they can be resolved. The approach allows the clients to resolve
the issues with the help of therapy that suits the clients' cultural as well as
their understanding of the world in general, it does not limit the clients to
pre decided notions or rules.
Limitations:
Firstly, even though the theory has huge applicability somehow it lacks in
terms of research backup. Many believe that the approach only revolves
around positive factors in life and less attention has been drawn to other
factors especially the unconscious thought. The theory is much based on
intellect and logic if we may say so and is limited for people who are not
much insightful.
Due to family culture or the personal view of the clients themselves can be
an obstacle as those clients may not be willing to share personal and
family details which are rather important in Adlerian therapy. Some
aspects of the theory may be irrelevant for people coming from nuclear
families or for that matter extended joint family backgrounds.
Goals / Techniques:
Rogers (1977) emphasizes that people need to be assisted in learning how
to cope with situations. As a goal of humanistic approach, the person must
be able to deal with day-to-day issues without any assistance functioning
in a healthy manner. Another goal is to make the client self-reliant and to
trust their feelings and perceptions, when a person believes in themselves;
decision making of the individual also improves.
In terms of Techniques, Rogers (1957) believed there are three necessary
and sufficient (i.e., core) conditions of counselling, Congruence, empathy
and unconditional positive regard. There are no such techniques applied in
the humanistic approach as the quality of relationship, the personal
insights and growth are more emphasized.
Strengths:
The approach is highly suitable for individuals who are faced with stress,
anxiety, guilt etc. A client regains or is able to find self-esteem with the
help of person centred therapy. The fact that Rogers chose to call a person
or client and not patient, as he did not believe a person to be ill and
seeking therapy for cure. Instead, he fostered the feelings of growth or
seeking assistance during a challenging situation. Roger's person-centred
counselling led to a great deal of research and studies.
47
Counselling Psychology Limitations:
The theory is quite optimistic in nature and could be of less help to those
who require constant guiding. The approach certainly is limited for those
who are psychologically dependent or less insightful and also for children.
The fact that this approach does not consider inner drives or the
unconscious thought, has gained some amount of critics
Founder:
Rollo May and Viktor Frankl are considered the most impactful theorists
when it comes to existential approach. May has studied enormously about
anxiety and his own life experiences, while Frankl discusses the “meaning
of life” prominently during the period when he was in Nazi camps during
the Second World War.
Strengths:
The approach encourages every client and their idea of life. The fact that
this approach teaches that anxiety can be positive and motivate individuals
to go beyond limits. The approach is effective in multicultural counselling
situations because its global view of human existence allows counselors to
focus on the person of the clients in an “I-Thou” manner without regard to
ethnic or social background (Epp, 1998; Jackson, 1987). Existential
approach touches the universal issues faced by people and hence has wide
applicability
Limitations:
There is no model of or structure to the existential counselling. It lacks the
methodology most other approaches have and lastly most clients look for a
structured and well-formed, practical resolution to their issues and
existential perspective merely looks and sounds like a philosophical
thought than solution.
Strength:
People who suffer from psychosomatic problems can be benefited from
gestalt approach. People can get more insights about their emotions and
self-explore themselves a lot from this approach. The therapy is applicable
to families or even for marital issues also with young people. The
approach is very versatile as it can be helpful to many different groups and
for various problems.
Limitations:
The gestalt theory mainly lacks in theoretical background along with
avoiding any kind of diagnosis. The approach also uses certain techniques
that too by less trained counselors which may not be very helpful to the
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50
clients. Another limitation of the approach is the fact that the client's Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
feelings are focused quite a bit. Humanistic, Behavioral and
Cognitive Theories of
Counselling - I
3.4 SUMMARY
This unit covers the theoretical background of the therapies that are
applied in counselling. Each theory is mentioned in such a way that it
covers the nature of the theory and its relevance with the therapeutic
application. The theories mentioned above also explain how a counselor
can and does apply them in a real life setting, that is, how one can
implement the learning of the theory in practicality.
Apart from theories, the techniques used in each theory are explained
along with the objectives and eventual goals that are achieved with
practical application of the theory via therapies.
The unit focuses on three counselling approaches: Psychoanalytic,
Adlerian, and humanistic views. Even though each theory has its unique
feature and way of analyzing and solving the issues faced by individuals
seeking counselling, the core of these theories remain the same as each
view focuses on some aspect of personality. Thus overall, the unit offers a
systematic overview about each counselling theory in terms of founders of
the theory, view of nature, role of the counselor, goals/ Techniques of
therapy, strengths/ limitations.
3.5 QUESTIONS
1. Explain the psychosexual stages of the psychoanalytic theory.
2. Describe in detail the defense mechanism from the psychoanalytic
approach.
3. What are the various techniques used in the Aldreian theory?
4. Explain the goals of humanistic theory.
5. Describe the strengths and limitation of the Gestalt theory.
3.6 REFERENCE
Egan, G. & Reese, R. J. (2019). The Skilled Helper: A Problem-
Management and Opportunity-Development Approach to Helping. (11th
Edition) Cengage Learning.
Gladding, S. T. (2014). Counselling: A Comprehensive Profession.
(7thEd.). Pearson Education. New Delhi: Indian subcontinent version by
Dorling Kindersley India.
Nelson-Jones, R. (2012). Basic Counselling Skills: A helper’s manual. 3nd
ed., Sage South Asia edition.
Corey, G. (2013). Theory and practice of counselling and psychotherapy
(9th Edition). Australia: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.
*****
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4
PSYCHOANALYTIC, ADLERIAN,
HUMANISTIC, BEHAVIORAL AND
COGNITIVE THEORIES OF
COUNSELLING - II
Unit Structure
4.0 Objective
4.1 Behavioural Counselling
4.1.1 Behavioural Therapy
4.2 Cognitive and Cognitive - Behavioural Counselling
4.2.1 Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy
4.2.2 Cognitive Therapy
4.2.3 Reality Therapy
4.3 Summary
4.4 Questions
4.5 References
4.0 OBJECTIVE
To learn & understand various behavioural therapies
To understand the various techniques while applying the therapies
To understand the goals, strengths and limitations of these therapies
To learn and understand the theoretical background
52
4.1.1 Behavioural Therapy: Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
Humanistic, Behavioral and
Founders of Behavioural Therapy: B. F. (Burrhus Frederick) Skinner Cognitive Theories of
(1904-1990) was primarily an important figure for popularizing Counselling - II
behavioural treatments. Applied behaviour analysis is a direct extension of
Skinner's radical behaviourism, which is based on operant conditioning.
Other figures in the behavioural therapy camp are historical figures, such
as Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson and Mary Cover Jones. Contemporary
figures such as Albert Bandura, John Krumboltz, Neil Jacobson, Steven
Hayes and Marsha Linehan have also contributed greatly to this way of
working with clients.
View Of Human Nature: Behaviourists, as a group, share the following
ideas about human nature:
Focusing on behavioural processes. That processes closely related to
outside behaviour (except for the cognitive behaviour)
Focuses on “here and now” as opposing to “then and there” behaviour
Assuming that all behaviour is learned, whether to adapt or not to
adapt.
The belief that learning can be effective in changing poor adaptive
behaviour.
Focusing on setting up clearly defined therapeutic objectives with
their customers.
Refusing the idea that the personality is composed of traits.
In addition, behaviourists stress the importance of gathering empirical
evidence and scientific support for all the techniques they use. Some
behaviourists, who adopt a form of social cognitive learning, show that
people acquire new knowledge and behaviour by observing other people
and events without participating in that behaviour and without any direct
consequences for them (modelling). This type of learning does not require
active participation.
Goals:
Behaviourists' goals are similar to those of many other counselors.
Essentially, behavioural counselors want to help clients adapt well to life
circumstances and achieve their personal and professional goals.
Therefore, the focus is on changing or eliminating the inappropriate
behaviour that clients exhibit, while helping them learn how to act in a
53
Counselling Psychology healthy and constructive manner. It is not enough to eliminate behaviour.
Ineffective actions must be replaced with effective responses. An
important step in the behavioural approach is for the counselors and
clients to achieve mutually agreed upon goals.
Techniques:
Behavioural counselors have some of the most effective and well-
researched counselling techniques available. They are mentioned below:
Uses of Reinforcers:
Reinforcement is those events which increase the likelihood that the
behaviour repeats itself when they follow a particular behaviour. The
reinforcers can be positive or negative.
Schedules of Reinforcements:
When a new behaviour is first learned, it needs to be reinforced each time
it occurs, that is, through continuous reinforcement. However, once
behaviour is established, it should be reinforced less often, that is, through
intermittent reinforcement. Reinforcement programs work based on the
number of responses (rate) or the time (interval) between reinforcement
programs. Reporting programs and time periods may be fixed or variable.
Shaping:
Behaviour is learned gradually in stages by succeeding with
approximations known as shaping. As clients learn new skills, counselors
can help break down behaviour into manageable small units.
Generalization:
Generalization involves displaying behaviour in the external environment
in which they were originally learned (e.g., at home, at work). It indicates
that the transition to another installation has taken place.
Maintenance:
Maintenance is defined as being consistent in performing desired actions
without depending on anyone for support. In maintenance, the focus is on
enhancing the customer's self-control and self-management. One way to
do this is to self-monitor and self-observation and by keeping the records
of it to work on it by oneself.
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54
Extinction: Extinction is the removal of behaviour due to the retreat Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
of its reinforcement. Fewer people will continue to do something Humanistic, Behavioral and
unhelpful. Cognitive Theories of
Counselling - II
Punishment: Punishment involves expressing an aversive stimulus to
a situation in order to prevent or eliminate behaviour.
Specific Behavioural Techniques: Specific behavioural techniques
are sophisticated behavioural methods that combine general
techniques precisely. They are found in different behavioural
approaches.
Behavioural Rehearsal: Behaviour rehearsal is practicing the desired
behaviour until it is done in the way a customer desires (Lazarus,
1985).
Environmental Planning: Setting up a client's environment to
control some behaviour or to promote is referred to as experimental
planning.
Systematic Desensitization:
Systematic desensitization aims to help clients overcome fears in certain
situations. A client is asked to describe the situation causing the fear and
then rank that situation and the events associated with it on a hierarchical
scale, from non-worrisome (0) to most difficult (100). To help the clients
avoid fear and cope, the counselors teach the clients to relax physically or
mentally. The hierarchy is then checked, starting with low fear items.
When the client's anxiety begins to increase, the client is helped to relax
again and the procedures begin again until the clients can be calm even as
they think about the event or imagine that it was used to cause the greatest
fear.
Assertiveness Training:
The main principle of assertiveness training is that a person should be free
to express his thoughts and feelings appropriately without undue anxiety
(Alberti & Emmons, 2008). This technique involves fighting anxiety and
strengthening assertiveness. Customers know that everyone has a right
(without any hesitation) to speak up. The clients then learn the difference
between aggressive, passive, and assertive actions.
Contingency contract:
The emergency contracts specify the behaviour to be carried out, modified
or interrupted. The rewards associated with achieving these goals; and the
conditions under which the rewards will be received.
Flooding:
It is an advanced technique that involves sensitizing a client to a situation
by making them imagine an anxiety-provoking situation that could have
disastrous consequences. The client is not taught to relax first (as during
55
Counselling Psychology systematic desensitization). Floods are less traumatic, because imaginary
scary scenes do not have dire consequences.
Time out:
Downtime is a gentle countering technique in which the customer is cut
off from the possibility of receiving positive reinforcement. It is most
effective when used for short periods of time, such as 5 minutes.
Overcorrection:
Overcorrection is a technique in which the customer first restores the
environment to its natural state and then makes it “better than usual”.
Covert sensitization:
Covert sensitization refers to a technique in which undesirable behaviour
is eliminated by associating it with inconvenience and unpleasant
situations.
Strengths And Contributions: The unique approaches and aspects of
behavioural therapy are as follows:
Direct approaches treat symptoms. Since most clients seek help with
specific problems, counselors who work directly with symptoms can
often help clients right away.
A focused approach to the here and now. Clients do not have to look
to the past to get help in the present. A behavioural approach that
saves time and money.
An approach supported by the Association for Cognitive and
behavioural Therapies (ABCT), promoting the practice of behavioural
counselling methods.
This approach is supported by exceptionally good research on how
behavioural techniques influence the counselling process.
Limitations: Though behavioural Therapy does wonders, yet it has
limitations. They are as follows:
The approach is not about the whole person, just the obvious
behaviour. Critics argue that many behaviourists have removed the
person from their personality.
This method is sometimes applied mechanically.
This method is best demonstrated under controlled conditions and can
be difficult to repeat in normal counselling situations.
The approach ignores the premises and the unconscious power of the
clients.
The approach does not take into account the stages of development.
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4.2 COGNITIVE AND COGNITIVE - BEHAVIOURAL Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
Humanistic, Behavioral and
COUNSELLING Cognitive Theories of
Counselling - II
Cognitive counselling theories focus on mental processes and their
influence on mental health and behaviour. Individuals with the criteria to
apply this approach are those who:
have average to above average intelligence.
have a moderate to high degree of functional difficulty.
can identify their thoughts and feelings.
are not mentally ill or disabled by current affairs.
are willing and able to do their homework systematically.
are capable of processing at visual and auditory level.
There are mainly three cognitive therapies as described below in detail in
the subsequent sections:
57
Counselling Psychology Role of the Counselor:
In the REBT approach, mentors are active and direct. They are the
instructors who teach and correct the client's perception. Therefore,
counselors should listen carefully to illogical or false statements from
clients and question their beliefs. They must be intelligent, understanding,
empathetic, respectful, genuine, specific, persistent, scientific, interested
in helping others and the REBT user himself.
Goals:
REBT is the goal-oriented treatment. It primarily focuses on the changes
in the beliefs and reduction symptoms. It helps individuals to become
more aware about their thoughts, emotions and behaviours. This therapy
helps the individual to learn or improve the cognitive skills that promote
rational thinking and which leads to greater happiness and self-acceptance.
Model of Therapy:
A: Activating (Trigger) event (something that happens to or around
someone)
B: Belief (event that causes someone to have a belief, whether
reasonable or unreasonable)
C: Consequence (belief) leads to consequences, with rational beliefs
leads to healthy consequences and irrational beliefs leads to unhealthy
consequences)
D: Disputes (if someone has irrational beliefs causes unhealthy
consequences), they have to challenge that belief and turn it into a
rational belief)
E: New effect (argument turned irrational belief into rational belief
belief, and the person now has healthy consequences more from my
beliefs)
Through this process, REBT helps people learn to recognize the emotional
frame, that is, learn how emotions relate to thoughts. Thoughts about
experiences can be characterized in four ways: positive, negative, neutral,
or mixed.
REBT also encourages clients to be more tolerant of themselves and
others, and urges them to achieve their personal goals. These goals are
achieved by teaching people to think rationally to change self-destructive
behaviour and by helping clients learn new ways of reacting to the
situations.
Techniques: REBT therapists have to address the client's cognitive,
beliefs and behaviour to help the clients to deal with the situations
effectively by themselves. Below are described the three techniques for
the same:
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58
Problem solving techniques: These strategies help in dealing with the Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
activating event (A). Humanistic, Behavioral and
Cognitive Theories of
Cognitive restructuring techniques: These strategies help the clients to Counselling - II
change irrational beliefs (B)
Coping techniques: Coping techniques which help the clients to
manage the emotional consequences (C) of irrational thoughts.
Whichever technique they use, therapists also are likely to give some
homework to the clients to do in between sessions. This gives clients the
opportunity to apply the skills learned in a class to your daily lying. For
example, they may ask you to write down how you feel after experiencing
something that normally makes you anxious and to think about how your
reaction made you feel.
REBT includes a variety of techniques to dispute irrational beliefs. They
are as follows:
Logical disputes:
This method leads to logic. For example, if your brother seemed a little
inattentive or was quiet in the party so it doesn’t logically mean that he is
rejecting a close relationship with you.
Empirical disputes:
This method focuses on the collection of the evidence. For example,
“Your friend visited you and also asked you to visit her again in a week”
when we examine this evidence, there are rare chances to believe that she
is avoiding you, in fact based on the evidence it seems she is even
showing interest to meet you again.
Functional disputes:
This method focuses on the effects of the individual’s beliefs, and also
having a picture on the individual’s beliefs of acquiring actually for what
they are hoping for. For example, if you want your friendship to be nice,
in this case by yourself assuming that she is avoiding you and you too start
avoiding her, then eventually she may be remembering the bad memories
of you. It will end up like this which is not what you wish to be.
Socratic method:
This method is most popular in REBT. For example, what do you think of
your friend's plan to meet again this week? Is she doing this to go away
from you?
59
Counselling Psychology Didactic method:
This involves giving information by explaining by educating without
dialogues, that Maybe you are too early coming to conclusion on your
brother for being quiet at a party but you should also remember that he is
still not completely out of heartbreak.
Humorous style:
In this method the dispute takes place in lighthearted ways. For example,
you seem to believe that the more someone talks to are the one who likes
you, so let us count on each person’s conversation tomorrow onwards, the
one who uses more words to you, that's the one who likes you the most.
Metaphor:
In this method, metaphors will be used to dispute the irrational thought.
And those metaphors are mostly used by the client’s own life. For
example, your brother was quiet at a party, this reminded me of another
incident of your life that reminded me that your boss was disappointed and
that is the reason she did not talk to you, but later you realized that she
was unwell because of her health problem.
Strengths and Contributions: The approach is clear, easy to learn and
effective. Most clients have little difficulty understanding REBT
principles or terminology.
This approach can be easily combined with other behavioural
techniques to help clients experience what they are learning more
fully.
This method is relatively short-term and the clients can continue to
use it on a self-help basis.
The approach has continued to develop over the years as techniques
have been perfected.
Limitations:
The use of REBT with specific diagnostic groups and with people
from diverse cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds requires
further research.
REBT sometimes pays too little attention to customer history and
moves too quickly in the direction of driving change.
Therapists should use humour. Furthermore, irrational beliefs cannot
simply be acknowledged or expressed. Insight is not enough. Rather,
the clients must do the work necessary to change irrational beliefs.
This method cannot be used effectively with people with mental
problems or with severe thinking disorders.
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60
At the heart of the mindset change, approach may not be the easiest Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
way to help clients change their emotions. Humanistic, Behavioral and
Cognitive Theories of
Difficulty with the patients. REBT is always criticized as serious by Counselling - II
advisors. Because it does not have to exist a care relationship for
REBT to work.
When working in schools, REBT can be very challenging because
often students do not have the emotional or cognitive levels needed to
succeed.
Another downside is that clients have to be prepared to solve their
problems. Typically, REBTs require the use of homework, so if a
client is not even willing to do homework during the session, chances
are they would not do any kind of homework.
Some emotional techniques are powerful and attenuating.
Goals:
The goals of cognitive therapy focus on examining and correcting
negative and unresolved thoughts.
Counselors work with clients to overcome their lack of motivation,
which is often related to a tendency to view clients’ problems as
unsolved.
61
Counselling Psychology Promoting self-awareness and emotional intelligence by teaching
clients to 'read' their emotions and differentiating healthy emotions
from unhealthy emotions
Helps clients understand how perceptions and misconceptions
contribute to pain.
Rapidly relieve symptoms by focusing on looking at the current
situation and solving current problems.
Developing self-control by teaching clients' specific techniques able
to identify and challenge distorted thoughts.
Prevent future episodes of emotional distress and develop personal
growth by helping clients change core beliefs that are often at the
heart of their suffering.
Techniques:
Enhancement of communication skills.
Challenging/ improving the thought process of the individual.
Helps in constructing the positive statements to self and to work on it
repeatedly.
Self-monitoring techniques to be able to see oneself and helps to work
on the negativity.
Keep rehearsing in disputation of the irrational thoughts, assessing
self and keeping note.
Limitations:
Cognitive therapy is structured and requires the clients to be active,
which usually means doing homework.
It is not an appropriate therapy for those who are looking for a more
profound and unstructured approach that does not require their strong
involvement.
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It is primarily cognitive in nature and is generally not the best Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
approach for people with intellectual limitations or who are not Humanistic, Behavioral and
motivated to change. Cognitive Theories of
Counselling - II
Clinicians as well as clients must be dynamic and creative. The
approach is more complicated than it seems at first glance.
Goals:
The fundamental goal of reality therapy is to empower people to take more
control of their lives by making better choices. A wise choice is
considered a choice that meets the following three criteria. Options are
realistic and achievable with good planning rights of others and contribute
to their efforts to make informed choices.
Choose responsibly, they not only help the person to make choices but
also respect the quality world.
They help people meet their innate needs and specific desires,
reflected in their own image.
They have a consistent set of healthy actions to improve their overall
behaviour by helping them think clearly, experience happiness and
other positive emotions and take actions to maintain their physical
health.
They develop an identity of success rather than an identity of failure.
People form and maintain positive, mutually enriching and respectful
relationships.
Techniques:
Therapists practically value each other's creativity as well as
understanding, appreciation, and motivation across themes. As a result,
they devised a range of interventions to drive client engagement in
treatments and bring energy and excitement to the sessions.
Metaphors:
Practical therapists use metaphors, comparisons, images, analogies, and
anecdotes to convey a powerful message to clients in creative ways
(Wubbolding, 2011). For example, one therapist told a client who had a
hobby of fishing that his attempt to achieve his goal seemed to be fishing
without bait in a lake with few fish.
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Relationships: Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
Humanistic, Behavioral and
Therapists practically consider relationships essential to a fulfilling life. Cognitive Theories of
They encourage clients to build relationships and teach them ways to Counselling - II
make them useful. According to Wubbolding, the foundation of a strong
relationship is time spent on the following characteristics, it is effortful,
appreciated, agreeable, focused on the positives. Polar, non-critical and
non-controversial, frequent and repetitive, but limited in time, and
promoting mutual understanding. For example, walk with a friend as a
way to bring them closer together.
Questions:
Although therapists do indeed advocate total behaviour assessment, they
want that assessment to come from the clients. Practical therapists avoid
telling people what is not right for them or how they should change.
Instead, they use carefully structured questions to help people gain insight
into their lives and identify what needs and does not change (Wubbolding,
2011). Examples of such questions include "What did you do yesterday to
satisfy your need to belong?", "Is what you are doing helping you?", “Was
the plan you developed the most effective plan you could come up with?”
Practical therapy can be easily adapted through changing language and
words, to people of different cultures. The Japanese can be put off by a
simple question like "What do you want?", "But perhaps more
comfortable being asked "What are you looking for?" (Wubbolding, 2011,
p. 113).
Positive addictions:
Glasser states that people can reduce the negative behaviour by increasing/
developing the positive behaviour. Such as, living or following optimum
healthy tips, exercise, good sleep, mediation, playing music. It takes 6
months to 2 years of regular practice and 45-60 minutes at a time to adapt
to these positive behaviours. Guidelines to nurture these behaviours should
not have any competition, and being able to do it alone, should add value
to the self, individuals should be into it without any self-criticizing in the
process of learning.
Reasonable Consequences:
Reality therapies believe in accepting their behaviour and they should feel
responsible for the consequences. They do not expect or focus on what
went wrong but they focus on what people can choose to do differently in
those situations and not to suffer the consequences of the negative
consequences caused by being irresponsible.
65
Counselling Psychology WDEP And SAMI 2C3:
WDEP stands for wants, direction, evaluating and plan. Elements to reach
the goal with high success rates has to follow these - SAMI 2C3- Simple,
attainable, immediate, involving, controlled, consistent and committed.
Limitation:
This approach primarily addresses the current situation or behaviour
and ignores the history and unconscious reasons for the situation.
This approach does not deal with developmental problems.
This approach’s success rating or results depends on good rapport
between the counselors and client.
4.3 SUMMARY
This unit has covered the behavioural therapies of counselling, which
include the
Behavioural therapy founded by B. F Skinner that focuses on the here and
now of the behaviour, also that behaviours are learned and refusing the
idea that personality is composed of traits. Apart from behaviour therapy,
the unit is also focusing on cognitive and behavioural cognitive
counselling which covers three therapies (i) Rational Emotive Behavioural
Therapy, (ii) Cognitive therapy, and (iii) Reality Therapy
Together these therapies focus on mental process and its impact on mental
health and behaviour. All of these therapies are extremely practical in
terms of application with various needs of the clients from the counselors.
4.4 QUESTIONS
1. Which are the various techniques used in behavioural therapy?
2. Explain the therapeutic techniques in REBT
3. What are the goals of cognitive behavioural therapy?
4. Explain the view of reality therapy.
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4.5 REFERENCES Psychoanalytic, Adlerian,
Humanistic, Behavioral and
Cognitive Theories of
Egan, G. & Reese, R. J. (2019).The Skilled Helper: A Problem-
Counselling - II
Management and Opportunity-Development Approach to Helping.(11th
Edition) Cengage Learning.
Gladding, S. T. (2014). Counselling: A Comprehensive Profession.
(7thEd.). Pearson Education. New Delhi: Indian subcontinent version by
Dorling Kindersley India
Nelson-Jones, R. (2012). Basic Counselling Skills: A helper’s manual. 3nd
ed., Sage South Asia edition.
*****
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5
SYSTEMIC, BRIEF, CRISIS THEORIES
AND GROUP COUNSELLING - I
Unit Structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 A Brief Introduction to System Theory
5.1.1 Bowen’s System Theory
5.1.2 Structural Family Counselling
5.1.3 Strategic Counselling
5.2 Brief Counselling Approach
5.2.1 Solution-Focused Counselling
5.2.2 Narrative Counselling
5.3 Trauma and Crisis Counselling Approaches
5.3.1 Crisis Counselling
5.4 Summary
5.5 Questions
5.6 References
5.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you will be able to understand:
• What is system theory?
• What are the various system theories for counselling approaches?
• What is brief counselling?
• What is narrative and solution-focused counselling?
• What is crisis counselling?
68
structure, and iii) human beings as players within the organization. Systemic, Brief, Crisis
Therefore, the emphasis of the general system theory is on interaction Theories and Group
patterns and how these interaction patterns influence the overall operation Counselling - I
of the system
System theory has some assumptions about counselling that differentiate
system theory from other counselling and psychotherapy approaches.
Sentox (1994) suggested the following assumptions:
1. Interpersonal causality (Causality is interpersonal)
2. Repeated patterns of interpersonal interaction are better understood as
psychosocial systems, and
3. Symptomatic behaviours must be viewed through the lens of
interaction.
Circular causality:
The reciprocal interaction between two occurrences is the focus of circular
causality. The term "reciprocal interactions" stems from the foundations of
cybernetics, and it refers to the regulatory activity that takes place when
one part of a system influences another. A reciprocal perspective shifts
away from an individualistic (mechanical) view of systems and toward a
relational view that emphasizes interactional patterns.
There are various counselling approaches that have their base in the
system theories. For example, Bowen systems theory, structural family
therapy and strategic therapy. Each of these approaches differs from
others.
69
Counselling Psychology Views of human nature:
Bowen thought that everyone experiences chronic anxiety – both
emotional and physical – at some point in their lives. This worry affects
some people more as compared to others “because of the way past
generations in their families have funnelled the transmission" in their case.
Persons or families with low anxiety face few difficulties. When people's
anxiety levels get too high, they become considerably more "sickly" and
may develop chronic dysfunction. As a result, the separation of one's
thoughts from the emotions or differentiation, as well as one's self from
others is important and the centre of Bowen’s System Theory. For
example, couples who marry at the same stage of emotional development,
face greater challenges in their marriage partnerships than those who
marry later in life.
In some cases where an individual does not form a stable self-concept or
may not maintain a healthy separation from their families of origin and
when there is a lot of conflict in marriage, then less mature partners may
show a fusion or cutoff (physical or psychological avoidance). These
people have a tendency to triangulate (concentrate on a third party) when
they are stressed as individuals within the marriage. This third party
possibly may be the marriage itself. The third party could be the marriage
itself, a kid or it may be various institutions (for example school, colleges
or church), or a physical ailment, such as a migraine or throbbing
headache. Couples' interactions become problematic or inefficient as a
result.
Goals:
The goals of this counselling method include i) making clients understand
and alter the stress coping mechanisms and patterns that have been handed
over from generation to generation, ii) lowering clients’ anxiety in their
day to day life and iii) making them be able to concentrate better,
differentiate between their thoughts and feelings, as well as themselves
and others.
Techniques:
The strategy used in Bowen’s System Theory focuses on developing a
positive self-concept within the person so that such a person can interact
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with people without becoming anxious when the interaction becomes Systemic, Brief, Crisis
difficult. A few of such techniques or strategies are explained below: Theories and Group
Counselling - I
Drawing a genogram that spans multiple generations is one of the
techniques, which is more like to achieve this goal with one
multigenerational technique, that is, to analyze oneself and one's
family in a variety of ways.
Creating a genogram that spans generations, which is a graphic or a
geometric representation of a person's family tree such as words,
symbols, and lines.
A genogram is a collection of information about relationships within a
family and among its members over the course of at least three
generations. In the context of past and contemporary events, a
genogram aids people in gathering knowledge, hypothesizing, and
tracking connection changes.
Focusing on the cognitive process, such as asking family members
content-related questions, is another strategy. The goal is to gain a
clear understanding of what transpired in a family of the clients
without any baggage of emotions. Such a technique encourages
dyadic interactions and asking questions regarding significant events
in the life of the family, such as funerals, births, and weddings. In
Bowen's approach, asking questions is a very useful tool.
Detriangulation: Has two levels of operation. One is to deal with
worry about family circumstances rather than projecting and
transferring one's feelings to others. The second goal is to avoid being
used as a scapegoat or a target by those who are anxious. Finally,
there is a differentiation of self, which refers to a person's ability to
discriminate between subjective and objective reasoning. Most, if not
all, of the approaches previously discussed, as well as some conflict
between the clients and counselors, are required to become
differentiated.
Strengths and Contribution:
The objectives of Bowen’s System Theory are to assist families in
understanding how their past has shaped who they are today, while also
educating clients that the cycle can be broken and that harmful habits do
not have to be perpetuated.
The usage of a genogram is the strength of this theory. A genogram is a
significant tool used in family therapy that depicts the family history more
clearly. This tool allows the clients and professionals to discuss and
thoroughly comprehend the clients’ past.
By reflecting on their own family histories, professionals are taught how
to deal with family circumstances. Professionals learn how to cope with
family situations at this time, which includes monitoring family trends and
learning how to read a family genogram.
71
Counselling Psychology This approach is also distinct because it emphasizes the cognitive process
and focuses on self distinction and de-triangulation.
Limitations:
Bowen’s System Theory has some limitations as follows:
Looking into the past may assist the clients to gain a greater
understanding of their predicament. However, it does not always
equip them with the resources they will need to deal with present
issues and future challenges.
Few clients are able to reflect on the past since it takes time to
complete the process because life events such as financial trouble,
time, or a move might disrupt the process.
Bowen’s work is particularly beneficial to clients who are extremely
disordered or have a low sense of self-differentiation.
The approach is extensive and complex.
Counselors’ Roles:
Structural family therapy argues that the family as a unit should undergo
structural changes with a focus on modifying interactional patterns in
family subsystems such as the marriage dyad.
Practitioners of structural family therapy are both professionals and
observers in modifying and changing a family's basic structure. They have
the following roles:
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To establish clear boundaries between family members. Systemic, Brief, Crisis
Theories and Group
To take a leadership role inside the family when working with Counselling - I
families.
To create a mental map of a family's structure, understanding why a
family is stuck in a dysfunctional cycle or pattern so that counselors
can help in modifying and improving family functioning.
Goals:
The goal of structural family therapy is to rearrange and reorganize a
family unit into a more productive and functioning unit as a result action is
important that takes precedence over understanding. Family rules are an
important element of structural family therapy. In the counselling sessions,
the focus is more on replacing old rules with new ones that are more
appropriate to the current situation of the family. The necessity of
subsystem difference and distinction is emphasized with a focus on
parental control over their children. If all goes well, a family's cultural
environment will be transformed.
Techniques:
The prominent techniques used in Structural Family Therapy are as
follows:
Enactment is a technique that demonstrates their (family’s)
problematic habits through enactment to a family, such as decision-
making, that family brings in the counselling sessions. During this
process, the counselors question the family's current patterns and
rules, and the family becomes more conscious of how they should
work.
Making boundaries is the psychological process of drawing lines
between persons or subsystems in order to maximize group and
individual and group development and functioning.
Unbalancing is a technique through which counselors promote
changes in the boundaries and hierarchical relationships of the family
members. This technique provides an opportunity for the family
members to try out new roles in the family.
Restructuring is the process of restructuring a family's structure by
altering current hierarchies or interaction patterns in order to prevent
problems from recurring.
Limitations:
This therapy also has some limitations. Critics have claimed that the
structural work of this therapy is too simple, can be sexist at times, and is
too focused on the present. It is troublesome to claim that the structural
treatment has been impacted by strategic family therapy and that it is
sometimes difficult to tell the difference. Sometimes families may not feel
empowered enough if the counselors take charge of the overall change
process, which can limit future adjustment and progress.
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Circular causality: the responsiveness of family members to treat each Systemic, Brief, Crisis
other in the ways they are treated (i.e., something for something). Theories and Group
Counselling - I
Role of the counselors:
Strategic counselors are active, direct, and goal-oriented in their approach
to change, as well as problem-focused, pragmatic, and concise. As a result,
they focus on resolving immediate issues while neglecting to inculcate
insight. They treat problem behaviours from a systemic perspective,
concentrating on the process of dysfunctional interactions rather than the
content. When clients' old behaviours are not working, strategic
counselors’ role is to urge them to try new ones. The goal is to alter a
particular behaviour. If this behaviour can be changed, the outcomes
frequently have a spillover effect, allowing individuals to make more
behavioural changes as a result of the findings.
Goals:
The strategic approach has the purpose of resolving, eliminating or
improving a problem behaviour that has been brought up in counselling.
As a result of this process, new effective behaviours emerge that will help
families, couples and individuals in accomplishing a certain objective. By
restricting the number of therapy sessions available, one can save money.
Strategic counselors want to boost the clients’ determination and
motivation to succeed. Another purpose of this therapeutic approach is for
those who participate in learning new skills for dealing with future-related
conflicts.
Techniques:
Strategic family counselors, as a group, are highly forward-thinking. Each
intervention is unique to the people and problems involved. As a result of
such personalization, strategic counselling is one of system theory's most
technique-driven approaches. Strategic family counselors are
nonjudgmental, avoid pathological labelling, embrace families' current
issues, and see symptoms as serving a good role in communication.
Relabeling is a common practice (putting a new spin on a behaviour).
For example, Amit's behaviour may be described as "assertive" rather
than "rude" when he constantly begged for a second helping of pastry.
Paradoxical intervention in which, counselors ask clients to do the
exact opposite of what they want to do or achieve and force (a partner
or family member) to display something they have already done
unintentionally (such as squabbling) are also used.
During the therapeutic process, families or individuals may be
sometimes asked to go through ordeals, such as travelling. The
assumption is that if clients have to make sacrifices in order to
become healthy, treatment outcomes will be better in the long run.
75
Counselling Psychology The assigning of original homework activities (sometimes in the form
of instruction or prescriptions) to be done between sessions is a big
part of strategic family therapy.
Limitation:
To begin with, some of its key principles and practices are comparable to
those utilized by other systems and brief therapeutic concepts. Second,
some of the viewpoints advanced by well-known strategic practitioners,
such as Jay Haley's belief that psychosis-like condition such as
schizophrenia is not caused by a biological defect are debatable. Finally,
while strategic camps value the counselors’ knowledge and influence,
clients may not gain the same level of independence or ability as they
would otherwise.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) has its roots in the early 1980s.
Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg, and colleagues investigated how to
effectively assist change in people's lives at the Brief Family Therapy
Centre in Milwaukee, USA. Solution-focused counselling is known as
solution-focused brief therapy. In this counselling approach, the focus is
on finding various solutions to the problem. Solution-Focused Brief
Therapy was created in its current form by Steve deShazer (1940–2005)
and Bill O'Hanlon in the 1980s, Milton Erickson, a pioneer of short
therapy in the 1940s, had a direct influence on both of them.
77
Counselling Psychology Goals:
Solution-oriented work can be defined as a method of working that
focuses solely or primarily on two things: a) assisting people in pursuing
their desired destinies, b) investigating when, where, with whom, and how
aspects of that desired future are now taking place. Some of the goals of
solution-focused counselling approaches are as follows:
Assisting clients in accessing their inner resources and recognising
exceptions to their misery is one of the main goals of solution-focused
counselling. The idea is to point them in the direction of answers to
problems that currently exist.
Forming a collaborative effort to address the issue
Identifying the clients’ strengths as a foundation for trust in their
ability to change for the better.
Using active, diverse counselling and intervention tactics.
Thus, clear, tangible, and quantifiable goals must be established in order to
assess progress.
Techniques:
1. Looking for Exceptions: Clients are urged to look for instances such as
exceptions when the problem is not present, for example, when, where and
how these instances occur is analyzed, and solutions are built based on
them. Exception questions include the following:
Describe a time when you were not furious.
Tell me about your happiest moments.
Can you recall the last time you felt you had a better day?
Has there ever been a point in your relationship when you felt happy?
What did you notice about that day that made it better?
Can you recall a period when the issue did not exist in your life?
Compliment:
When counselors write messages that are aimed at examining clients
closely for their achievements and talents, as well as their abilities and
skills, is referred to as the compliment. Such a technique can enable the
clients to gain the confidence and belief that they can deal with the
problems successfully. The role of the counselors in this technique is to
compliment clients shortly before they are given any tasks or chores for
day to day life.
Clues:
The purpose of clues is to make the clients aware and alert about the view
that some of the behaviours they are engaging in are more likely to persist,
and the clients should not be concerned about them.
Skeletal keys:
They are strategies that have been demonstrated to work in the past and
can be used to a variety of issues.
Limitations:
Some of the limitations of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) are as
follows:
This technique pays almost no attention to the clients’ background;
There is a lack of focus on insight; and
The strategy, at least by some practitioners, employs teams, which
raises the treatment's cost.
Goals:
According to the narrative viewpoint, people live their lives by stories
(Kurtz & Tandy, 1995). As a result, the focus of this method has switched
to a narrative style of understanding and interpreting the world, which is
more wide and full of possibilities. The goals of successful narrative
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80
therapy are i) to enable clients to learn to appreciate their own life Systemic, Brief, Crisis
experiences and stories, ii) to make them learn how to create new tales and Theories and Group
significance in their lives, as well as new realities for themselves in the Counselling - I
process.
Techniques:
The techniques that are used in narrative counselling are as follows:
Being able to tell one's own story (Putting together a narrative) re-storying
or re-authoring: Clients investigate their experiences to find changes to
their story or create a new one, a method called "re-authoring" or "re-
storying" the same conditions or story can convey a hundred different
stories because people interpret their experiences differently.
Technique of externalization:
The externalization method helps clients to see their problems or habits as
something external to them rather than a fixed aspect of their personality.
Inquiring about how the situation affects the individual and how the
individual affects the problem increases awareness and objectivity. This
technique is based on the idea that changing behaviour is easier than
changing a core psychological feature.
Deconstructing technique:
This technique makes the problem more specific and eliminates
overgeneralization. It also clarifies what the real problem or problems are.
For example, instead of accepting a comment like "my partner doesn't get
me anymore," a therapist could deconstruct the problem with this client by
asking him to be more specific about what is hurting him. This method is
an excellent tool to help the clients go deeper into the problem and
understand the source of the stressful incident or pattern in their lives.
Apart from this, families receive letters from counselors informing them
of their progress. Counselors often arrange official celebrations at the end
of treatment and award certificates of achievement to individuals who
have conquered an externalized issue like apathy or depression.
Developmental Crisis:
This occurs naturally as part of a person's growth and development under
normal conditions (e.g., retirement, and the child’s birth)
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Situational Crisis: Systemic, Brief, Crisis
Theories and Group
This arises when a person has no way of anticipating or regulating strange Counselling - I
and unexpected events (e.g., a car accident, a kidnapping, and a job loss)
Existential Crisis:
According to existentialists, anxiety and inner conflicts are "internal
conflicts and anxieties that follow essential human challenges of purpose,
responsibility, independence, freedom, and commitment".
Eco-systemic Crisis:
When a natural or man-made calamity occurs, it overwhelms an individual
or a group of individuals who may find themselves surrounded in the
aftermath of an event that has the potential to harm almost every member
of their immediate environment, despite no fault or behaviour of their
own.
Goals:
Crisis counselling is aimed at the goals, such as i) to assist people in
understanding what they are going through and experiencing, ii) to assist
them in figuring out how to cope, iii) to attempt to avert long-term mental
health issues by immediately returning people to pre-disaster levels of
functioning, iv) to make people's reactions more normal, v) to ensure the
safety of an individual in crisis by reducing emotional anguish and
providing emotional support, vi) to validate and affirm people's reactions,
and vii) to connect a person to an additional community or health services
that can give long-term support is sometimes part of the process.
Techniques:
The techniques employed in crisis counselling differ depending on the
nature of the crisis and the risk of harm as previously discussed. However,
what crisis professionals do and when they do it is dependent on a
continual and fluid assessment of the people who are experiencing a crisis.
Following the assessment, three crucial listening tasks must be put into
action:
83
Counselling Psychology 1. Identifying the issue or problem, especially from the clients’ point of
view; understanding the issues from the perspective of the clients is
important here.
2. Ensuring and protecting the safety of the clients that includes reducing
harm to clients and others on a physical and psychological level.
3. Providing assistance and support to the clients that requires
expressing true and unconditional compassion.
There are various strategies and techniques that are used in the middle of
listening skills or sometimes during the sessions. Some of these techniques
are examining alternatives, making plans and obtaining commitment.
Examining alternatives: the clients are supposed to engage in
recognizing various alternatives which may be available and
brainstorm over the choices that are better over the other choices.
Making plans: This enables clients to develop a sense of control and
autonomy so that they do not grow to remain reliant on others, and
Obtaining commitment: It is important to consider from the clients
so that some clients can take actions that have been planned in the
counselling sessions.
The stress connected with a crisis must be managed after it has passed and
counselors must debrief. There are three techniques useful in debriefing
the clients, as described below:
Defusing:
Defusing is a less formal and less time-consuming variation of CISD. It
usually lasts thirty to sixty minutes and should be done within one to four
hours of a major occurrence. Like CISD, defusing allows clients to gain
knowledge about stress, and share their reactions and responses to an
experience, and express their feelings. The primary goal is to achieve
equilibrium (stability) of person or persons who have been affected by any
situation or events so that these persons can resume their normal day to
day routine without undue stress. If necessary, CISD can be conducted
afterwards.
Limitation:
The limitation of this counselling method is that it is used in circumstances
that require urgent attention. Most counselling approaches do not go into
the same detail as this strategy when it comes to resolution. Most therapy
approaches are more time-limited and trauma-focused than this technique.
The area of psychology known as systems psychology explores human
behaviour and experience in complex systems. It is based on systems
theory and thinking and communities and individuals are treated as
homeostatic systems. This unit covers most of the concepts and
approaches driven by systemic theories.
5.4 SUMMARY
The aim of the system theory is to explore and explain the interactions
patterns which are dynamic in nature and it also explains interdependence
patterns among various components that exist between the organization
and environment relationships. There are various counselling approaches
that have their base in the system theories. For example, Bowen’s systems
theory, structural family therapy and strategic therapy. Each of these
approaches differs from others. The therapists’ or counselors’ job in
Bowen’s family system theory is to stay out of the emotional triangle
(remaining neutral), to be objective and unemotional, and to be known as
the coach. The counselors from this system "emphasize insight, but the
action in the form of engaging differently with members of one's family of
origin is crucial." The counselor's job is to guide and teach the clients how
to be more aware of their interactions with others. Counselors may create
a multigenerational genogram with the clients to aid them in this process.
In structural family therapy, the action takes precedence over
understanding in order to reorganise and rearrange a family into a more
functioning and productive unit. Practitioners of structural family therapy
are both observers and professionals in modifying and changing a family's
basic structure. Strategic counselors treat problem behaviours from a
systemic perspective, concentrating on the process of dysfunctional 85
Counselling Psychology interactions rather than the content. Strategic counselors are active, direct,
and goal-oriented in their approach to change, as well as problem-focused,
pragmatic, and concise. As a result, strategic counselors focus on
resolving immediate issues while neglecting to inculcate insight.
Brief therapy, that is also called “short-term therapy” or “time-limited
therapy”, is the one with a limited time span. Brief counselling is created
to assist clients in achieving their objectives in a more expedient and
effective manner. Solution-focused counselling does not take a broad
perspective of human nature; instead, it concentrates on the health and
strength of the clients. Solution-focused counselling assumes that people
genuinely desire to change and that change is unavoidable. Solution-
focused counselors serve as change facilitators, assisting clients in
accessing the skills and qualities they already possess but are unaware of
or not People within the society are seen as those who consistently
involves in evaluating and internalizing themselves through creating and
constructing various stories of their own lives and many of such stories are
sometimes might have negative qualities about individuals or events in
their lives and rather very disturbing, painful or depressing. As a result,
the focus of this method has switched to a narrative style of understanding
and interpreting the world, which is more wide and full of possibilities. If
narrative therapy is successful, clients learn to appreciate their own life
experiences and stories.
A crisis is defined as a person's perception or experience and incident or
condition that is too terrible to bear that outweighs the person’s present
resources and coping methods (James & Gilliland, 2013). Trauma can be
defined as "an experience in which a person is confronted with real or
threatened death, major injury, or a threat to one's or others' physical well-
being." Trauma therapy is the type of treatment that people receive when
they believe their lives are in danger. The four most typical types of crises
are developmental (e.g., related to retirement), situational (e.g., car
accident), existential (e.g., related to responsibility), and eco-systemic
(e.g., man-made or natural calamity). The techniques employed in the
crisis counselling sessions differ based on the nature of the crisis and the
risk of harm involved. Examining alternatives, making plans and obtaining
commitment are some of the techniques used in the counselling sessions.
On the other hand, critical incident stress debriefing (CISD), diffusing,
and one-on-one crisis therapy are the three techniques useful in debriefing
the clients.
5.5 QUESTIONS
1. What is structural family counselling and describe the techniques used
in structural family counselling?
2. What is crisis counselling and explain the techniques used in crisis
counselling?
3. What is brief counselling and describe the strength and limitations of
brief counseling approaches?
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4. What are the strengths and limitations of narrative counselling? Systemic, Brief, Crisis
Theories and Group
5. Write short notes on: Counselling - I
5.6 REFERENCES
*****
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6
SYSTEMIC, BRIEF, CRISIS THEORIES
AND GROUP COUNSELLING - II
Unit Structure
6.0 Objective
6.1 Introduction to group therapy
6.1.1 Goals of Group counselling
6.2 A brief history of group therapy
6.3 Benefits of group therapy
6.4 Drawbacks of group therapy
6.5 Types of groups
6.5.1 Basic Elements Of Group Facilitation
6.6 Theoretical approaches in conducting groups
6.6.1 Effective skills in Group Counselling:
6.7 Stages in groups
6.8 Summary
6.9 Questions
6.10 References
6.0 OBJECTIVES
To get an orientation about group counselling and psychotherapy
To understand the benefits and drawbacks of group counselling.
To learn about theoretical approaches in conducting group counselling
as well as various types of groups
To familiarize with various stages of group counselling.
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Counselling Psychology
6.2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF GROUP THERAPY
Let us have a look at some important events and dates of group
psychotherapy and counselling. With a history since the early 1900s,
group psychotherapy has quickly developed. J. H. Pratt, Jesse B. Davis,
and J. L. Moreno have a significant contribution to the development of
group therapy.
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Counselling Psychology 2. Group can make people feel uncomfortable: Group therapy sessions
can become very intense, which might make some members
uncomfortable. As a result, some people may become too
uncomfortable to continue attending group therapy sessions.
3. Loss of trust:
Within therapeutic situations, trust is essential; frequently, clients must
have some level of trust in a practitioner before disclosing sensitive or
intimate information about them. It may be considerably more difficult to
build trust with all of the members of the group at the same time, as the
individuals will have to build trust with a number of people with whom
they may not have had personal ties.
4. Clashes of personality:
In groups, there will often be a mix of personalities, with some individuals
having significantly different personalities than others.
5. When a group shares their opinions, there is sometimes a difference of
opinion and position, which can lead to disagreements between group
members who have opposing moral or ethical views on a topic. Some
people's views on a subject may differ from the values of others in the
group.
7. Discussions
about matters that were painful to an individual inside the group may
provoke feelings and ideas associated with this occurrence for people who
have experienced trauma and/or abuse.
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1. Task Group: Systemic, Brief, Crisis
Theories and Group
Task groups are primarily concerned with getting a group from point A to Counselling - II
point B. In many organizations, groups become paralyzed for a variety of
reasons, all of which have a negative influence on the organization's
capacity to achieve its objectives.
Good task group facilitators may improve the efficiency and productivity
of an organization by assisting the group in identifying its goals and
working with the group to overcome any roadblocks to success. While
personal matters are rarely discussed in task groups, task leaders should be
aware of interpersonal dynamics that may aid or hinder the work (Conyne,
2014).
Task group has objectives of completing a certain task such as handling
and resolving various issues pertaining to house residents, regulations
about the schools, paying attention, and discussing about the clients in
mental health settings. Organizing meetings across various stakeholders is
one of the tasks. Organizational meetings, staff meetings, planning
sessions, faculty meetings and decision-making meetings are very
common in a task group. In the business world, a focus group is usually
seen for product impressions and evaluating products.
In a task group, the leader's job is to keep the group on track and stimulate
discussion and engagement. The members of some task groups can stay
focused with little assistance from the leader, therefore the leader's job is
more facilitative.
2. Psycho-Educational Group:
The nature of the psycho-educational groups is largely preventative. The
psycho-education group also assumes that group members may have a
skills deficit. One of the examples of such a group is a parenting group, for
example, group leaders might assume or observe that some of the
members have parenting skills problems. The group members attending
such a group will try to learn new skills pertaining to parenting.
The curriculum used in the psycho-educational group is prepared to
overcome and correct the skills deficits pertaining to various areas and a
group member follows such curriculum. Psycho-educational groups
require two key elements to fulfil their objectives: information
transmission and processing. The group leader's responsibility is to deliver
new information because group members are there to learn something
new.
Mini lectures, handouts, video clips, and exercises are frequently used to
communicate these new abilities in a didactic or experiential manner. Too
often, group leaders are solely concerned with disseminating knowledge
and neglect to spend time processing it. Ignoring the processing can
greatly reduce the effectiveness of your psychoeducational groups and
limit your members' ability to change.
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Counselling Psychology 3. Counselling Group:
Counselling groups are distinct in that they focus on using the group's
current interactions to learn about the self and generate possibilities for
change. This group is also commonly referred to as the "personal growth
group".
In this group, the goals are achieved through the interactions among the
group members which are usually interpersonal. In this group, sharing of
group members is focused on here and now (present-oriented) so the
processes are very important and one of the roles of counselors is to help
the group to move from external sharing to internal. In counselling groups,
the relationships among the members become the agent of change.
4. Psychotherapy Group:
Psychotherapy groups are usually formed to deal with the problems that
are psychological in nature and psychological maladjustment which might
impact daily functioning. One of the features of the psychotherapy group
is that it is usually long term in nature because it has its base in classical
psychoanalysis and psychodynamic approaches.
5. Support Group:
The support groups are formed for the people who have common issues or
problems. Members of such a group usually interact with each other on a
particular problem and try to share their feelings and thoughts on one hand
and try to help each other by exploring difficulties and various concerns
on the other hand.
In a support group, the leader's job is to encourage individuals to share.
The exchanges should ideally be personal, with members speaking directly
to one another. For these groups' leaders, it is critical to remember that the
objective and goal of the group is to share. It is impossible to achieve if
the leader or any single member has too much power.
6. Self-Help Group:
The type of group is the self-help group, which is becoming increasingly
popular. Self-help groups are usually led by laypeople with similar issues
to those at the meeting.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the most well-known self-help group.
Attending sessions of can improve the lives of millions of people. Many
other self-help groups use the Twelve Steps to follow the AA paradigm.
7. Growth Group:
Growth groups are generally beneficial to members who want to learn
more about themselves and want to experience being in a group. The first
T-groups, or training groups, were held in Bethel, Maine, in 1947.
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Growth groups would include sensitivity groups, awareness groups, and Systemic, Brief, Crisis
encounter groups. Schools, colleges, community centres, and retreat Theories and Group
facilities are all places where growth groups are held. Counselling - II
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6.6.1 Effective skills in Group Counselling: Systemic, Brief, Crisis
Theories and Group
Reflection of feeling: Counselling - II
This is a very important skill that allows clients in the group to understand
and comprehend responses coming from each other and provide the
opportunity to the clients for relating with others through the reflection of
feeling so that other group members feel understood.
Active Listening:
Through active listening skills, clients become more aware of their own
listening style in a group setting. Clients in the group becomes more
serious when they know that the inputs given or shared by them are being
taken seriously and other members were actively listening to them.
Clarification:
This skill helps the group members to check for accuracy, if they are not
clear with what is said by the other group member. Clarification makes
abstract communication very concrete.
Summarizing:
Summarizing is useful toward the end of the group session and it provides
a recap of what was discussed in the group. Sometimes summarization is
useful in the mid of the session. There are multiple elements in the group
discussion and summarization helps to tie these elements together.
Summarization also helps in identifying the similar themes or the patterns
of the phenomena or topic that is being discussed in the group. Lastly, it
helps in reviewing the progress.
Linking:
Linking is useful because through linking clients can connect with others
in the group and when they are going through the same concerns linking is
a very helpful skill.
Minimal encourager:
Minimal encouragers help members of the group to be more open with
others, so that sharing personal stories and feelings becomes easier.
Focusing:
Focusing skills assists group members to be more attentive to the group
concerns.
Cutting Off:
By using cutting off skills, counselors assist the group members to stay
focused on the topic and as a result of this every member of the group gets
a chance to share their concerns.
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Counselling Psychology
6.7 STAGES IN GROUPS
Effective group counselors understand that groups move through five
stages: reliance, conflict, cohesion, interdependence, and termination, in
addition to preplanning. Tuckman and Jensen (1977) defined the stages as
"forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning." Counselors
can create or use suitable leadership interventions by recognizing the
stages of a group.
1. Forming:
This initial stage of group development is named "formation" Or
“dependence”. At this stage, members are not very sure (unsure) of
themselves and they might seek guidance from the leaders at this point.
This method allows members to discover who they are as individuals
inside the group and to begin building trust.
2. Storming:
"Conflict," often known as "storming," is the second stage in group
counselling. It could be either overt or covert. The amount of conflict and
the type of conflict that is generated is determined by the level of the
jockeying.
3. Norming:
This is the third stage which primarily focuses on the “norming” or
“cohesion”. Sometimes this stage can be described as a stage which
develops the spirit of “We-ness” among group members. Members get
mentally closer and calmer as a result of it. Everyone in the group feels
included, and fruitful sharing begins.
4. Performing:
The group's major job begins in the fourth stage called performing.
Interdependence grows as a result of this stage. Members of the group can
take on a wide range of productive responsibilities and work on personal
difficulties. The group's degree of comfort rises as well. This is a great
moment to solve problems. Almost, half of the group’s time is spent
raising the comfort the group.
5. Adjourning:
This is the fifth and final stage that deals with the ending of the process. A
separation that happens from the organization raises issues of loss in this
stage. This stage also places a strong emphasis on celebrating
achievements that have been met.
Communities and society as a whole rely on the structure these groups
provide. This is because people are born into a group, develop as members
of a group, and die as members of a group. As a result, group counselling
is used to assist members in meeting their own needs, resolving
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interpersonal conflicts, and achieving their objectives. This unit covers all Systemic, Brief, Crisis
aspects of group counselling. Theories and Group
Counselling - II
6.8 SUMMARY
Group Counselling has a long and illustrious history in helping individuals
with various mental health concerns. Group counselling uses various
effective methods to assist individuals with mental health problems. These
methods can be therapeutic in nature, preventative and educational. Task
groups, psychotherapy groups, counselling groups and psycho-educational
groups all have objectives to be achieved and standards and procedures to
be followed.
Practices and theoretical frameworks used in group counselling are
frequently similar to those used in individual work or counselling.
However, there are a few certain distinctions in applications and the
processes of group counselling, while working with a group differs
significantly from dealing with individuals. The success of group
counselling or its effectiveness depends on the group leaders. Therefore, it
is important that they should be capable of dealing with a variety of issues
and topics as well as people.
There are various ethical and legal guidelines those leaders from group
counselling have to follow and largely these ethical, legal guidelines and
procedural requirements are determined by professional organizations.
Group counselling is concerned with the overall well-being of the group
members. Problems are identified and anticipated before they occur, so
that proactive steps can be taken to correct them. Follow up is usually
done with group members after the group is terminated.
Group counselling has various stages and each stage has its objectives to
achieve. These groups are nothing but the expanding ways of working
with people to achieve individual and collective goals. Professional
counselors must acquire group skills to successfully run these groups.
6.9 QUESTIONS
1. Explain the psycho-educational group counselling in brief and how it
is different from task group.
2. Describe in brief the nature of group counselling.
3. Highlight the drawbacks of group counselling
4. Describe the benefits of group counselling
5. Explain in brief any four stages of group counselling.
6. Elaborate on the essential skills in conducting group counselling.
7. Describe any three theoretical approaches to group counselling.
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Counselling Psychology
6.10 REFERENCES
1. Gladding, S. T. (2014). Counseling: A Comprehensive Profession.
(7thEd.). Pearson Education. NewDelhi: Indian subcontinent version
by Dorling Kindersley India.
2. Corey, G (2016). Theory and Practice of Counseling and
Psychotherapy. Cengage Learning, India.
*****
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7
COUNSELLING IN DIVERSE GROUPS - I
Unit Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction to Diversity
7.2. Counselling Aged Population
7.2.1 Old Age
7.2.2 Needs of the Aged
7.2.3 Counselling the Aged
7.3. Gender-Based Counselling
7.3.1 Counselling Women
7.3.2 Concerns in Counselling Women
7.3.3 Issues and Theories of Counselling Women
7.3.4 Counselling Men
7.3.5 Concerns in Counselling Men
7.3.6 Issues and theories in Counselling Men
7.4 Counselling and Sexual Orientation
7.4.1 Counselling Gays, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender
7.5 Summary
7.6 Questions- Improve your Grade
7.7 References
7.0 OBJECTIVES
To explain what diversity means, and to address issues related to
counselling diverse populations.
To explain the needs of the aged and their counselling.
To understand gender-based counselling for men and women.
To understand counselling with Gays, Lesbians, Bi-sexual, and
Transgender (LGBT).
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Counselling Psychology Other mental health issues:
Depression, grieving and bereavement, existential loneliness and anxiety,
sense of insecurity and uncertainty, dementia, suicidal ideations, etc. are
all interrelated and common in old age. With drastically changing
physical, mental, familial and social scenarios in old age, the elderly
experience a deep sense of alienation, which according to Seeman (1959)
is characterized by a sense of normlessness, powerlessness, isolation,
meaninglessness, and self-estrangement. Feelings of alienation can lead to
a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, and also lead to depression and
other pathological conditions in the elderly population. The quality of life
experienced by the elderly also contributes to their psychological well-
being. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), quality of life
in the elderly can be understood at multiple levels:
Physical health (e.g., energy, lack of pain, or proper sleep)
Psychological (e.g., positive feelings, less negative feelings, self-
esteem, intact thinking and memory)
Level of independence (e.g., in mobility, activities of daily living,
work capacity)
Social Relationships (e.g., social support, personal relationships)
Environment (e.g., financial resources, freedom, physical safety,
accessibility to health care, recreation/leisure)
Spirituality, religion, personal beliefs and their benefits
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Counselling Psychology Psychologists may consider themselves a-political and objective, however,
their research and their theories have not been free from the cultural-socio-
political ethos they were developed in. For example, early
psychoanalytical theories have been found to be biased in a way they
characterized women as dependent, passive, neurotic, conflicted and even
morally inferior to men. A lot of theories have been developed by men,
have been male normative, and have excluded women from it. Hence,
understanding and interpreting women‟s behaviours from the lens of such
theories could be problematic. For example, the concept of „role conflict‟
was used to characterize the stress experienced by women who moved
outside domestic roles to take a competitive paid role. This was based on
the idea that the domestic role in the family is their natural role; while
moving out to meet the demands of both work and the household was
considered to be a source of stress for them.
Over the years, feminist psychotherapy has evolved as an independent
approach, emphasizing the need for female equality, women‟s liberation,
and serving as a critique of conventional theory and psychotherapy. This
approach maintains that there should be no power difference between the
counselors and the counselees, wherein the counselors only play the role
of facilitators or catalysts for change. In this approach, the counselors help
women to recognize their needs and desires by getting in touch with their
inner selves. At the same time, counselors should be valuing what the
female clients want and do not want rather than prescribing what ought to
be right for women.
This approach helps females understand that they are people with rights.
At the same time, they are dynamic and growing people, who are not just
what society has defined them to be. They have their own emotional life,
professional aspirations and choices, personal needs, and physical and
sexual side to them. This approach understands that in a society that is not
conducive to the well-being of women, personal is political. So along with
personal change and growth, political realization and empowerment are
also important.
7.3.3 Issues and Theories of Counselling Women:
Counselors need to understand the uniqueness of women and the specific
issues they face across their life span. Counselors working with women
need to put special efforts into acquiring as much knowledge about
gender-related issues, including cultural, social and political aspects.
Counselors need to understand how cultures can be oppressive, and what
social justice means. The trauma, the psychological pain, and the anxiety
related to experiences of oppression and abuse need to be understood and
acknowledged. Scarato (1979) systematically pointed out seven areas in
which counselors need to acquire knowledge while working with female
clients. They are as follows:
1. History and sociology of sex-role stereotyping
2. Psychophysiology of women and men
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3. Theories of personality and sex-role development Counselling in Diverse
Groups - I
4. Life-span development,
5. Special populations
6. Career development
7. Counselling/psychotherapy.
The last area looks at finding different alternatives to conventional
psychotherapy approaches, which could address women-specific issues
(See Gladding, 2018).
The Feminist psychotherapy approach is one such alternative that started
emerging in the 1960s. This approach helps counselors to take into
cognizance how gender-based socialization processes affect women. This
can be understood in terms of how it defines opportunities for women, the
level of freedom they get, the traditional roles they are expected to adhere
to, and the social consequences for being a non-conformist. This therapy is
also transformational in nature as it encourages clients to understand their
individuality and their rights and notions of equality, and utilizes the
notions to facilitate a change process that is desirable for the clients.
Contrary to what traditional psychotherapy thinks of psychological issues
as being intrapsychic, this approach looks at the forces of society and
culture that constrain and restrict women as the natural cause for their
symptoms and related distress. The American Psychological Association
(APA) provides the following guidelines to the therapists/ counselors
while using psychotherapy with female clients:
1. Psychotherapists should reflect on their experiences with gender and
how their attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about gender and the way
gender intersect with other identities, may affect their practice with
girls and women.
2. Psychotherapists should strive to foster therapeutic practice that
promotes agency, critical consciousness and expanded choices for
girls and women.
3. Psychotherapists should use interventions and approaches with girls
and women that are affirmative, developmentally appropriate, gender
and culturally relevant, and effective.
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Counselling Psychology the stress of portraying themselves in certain ways to the society, but who
they truly are not.
For counselling men, Duffey and Haberstroh (2014) suggest another
approach called the Developmental Relational Counselling (DRC). For
men, relationships are defined in complex ways, in terms of the cultural
and life context, power, and their personality. This framework of
counselling helps men in three different ways:
1. Developing a more accurate perception of others.
2. Understanding the degree of power and influence they exercise.
3. Develop deeper levels of compassion for others and self-compassion
too.
When men can appraise themselves and perceive others in clear terms,
they can participate in more rewarding relationships, that are marked by
feedback and well-balanced self-reflection and self-perception. As men
are conditioned to be more self-reliant, they find it difficult to naturally
seek support from others and express themselves to others, which in turn
affects not only the quality of intimacy they enjoy, but also their overall
well-being. Through this framework, counselors help clients understand
the cultural forces that shape their notion of masculinity, and how they
define their interactions and experiences. Even though counselors value
the clients‟ healthy male normative qualities, they also challenge them to
develop a more relational and considerate side to them. Thus, the goal of
the DRC approach is to develop empathetic and mutually rewarding
relationships; along with developing a more balanced and accurate
perspective about themselves and others.
Support groups for men, which may include group therapy work, also
work well with men. It helps them work through their resistance, defence,
put their guard down, and open up. Seeing other men relate to their
emotions and develop respectful and empathetic communication with
others helps them overcome the normative aspects of their behaviour and
engage with others as a community. However, support groups normally
are cultivated across people having special needs and common causes.
Thus, something like having a support group for men might be rare; and
therefore, it needs to be advertised properly, so that men who are willing
to take a step to redefine themselves, their roles and their behaviours can
avail of such help. Group therapy techniques to increase group
cohesiveness, encourage participation, deal with „acting out‟ of clients,
and conflict management are important to develop a healthy working
group for men.
7.5 SUMMARY
In this unit, we learned about diversity in terms of individual differences
considering age, gender and sexual orientation. The aged population face
the most number of challenges and has drawn the most attention in the
counselling literature. These challenges include adjustment demands of
retirement associated financial issues, adapting to changing roles,
dependence, changing peer circles, and other changes in lifestyle and life
planning. They are likely to experience a serious challenge due to
psychomotor decline despite possessing wisdom and experience. Other
challenges include health problems affecting their well-being, leading to a
decline in their social functioning. As a result, they experience isolation,
sometimes even within their families, and may experience abuse and
neglect. Spirituality may also find prominence at this age and may
contribute to the well-being of the aged. Counselors working with the aged
population, need to attempt to understand the socio-cultural context and
intergenerational differences. Several therapeutic approaches, such as
cognitive-behaviour therapy, psychodynamic therapy, existential therapy,
life review approaches, group therapy, and family and couple therapy,
have been found to be helpful while working with aged clients.
Communication barriers are common while working with aged people. In
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such cases, the counselors should be patient listeners, and adjust the pace Counselling in Diverse
of communication according. Therapy should also focus on the increasing Groups - I
level of independence, self-reliance, self-care, and self-compassion in
clients.
Women in most societies are unable to enjoy equal status, especially, in
more conservative societies, where women are deprived of basic freedom
and autonomy to make their choices and decisions and do not have access
to opportunities, such as education. Often they are also the victims of
different forms of discrimination and oppression such as violence, abuse,
rape, and other forms of injustice. Counselling offers them to bring to the
fore their painful experiences in an emotionally safe environment. In this
context, we discussed how feminist psychotherapy evolved as an
independent approach, emphasizing the need for female equality, and
women‟s liberation. Counselors working with women need to put special
efforts into acquiring as much knowledge about gender-related issues,
including cultural, social and political aspects, so that they can understand
how cultures can be oppressive, and what social justice means for women.
Men too have unique needs, and also face different forms of sexism.
Pressures of affluence, success, strength, power, performance, being the
provider and protector, etc. Sexism and gender socialization make them
targets too of prejudice and stereotypes that threaten the men‟s masculine
self-identity. Hence, they may also be reluctant to avail of counselling
services for several reasons. Approaches such as „positive masculinity‟ are
helpful to the male clients in counselling to reject unhealthy rigid
adherence to traditional masculinity, and to pay attention to the positive
strengths of men related to their growth, excellence, and goodness.
Another framework called „developmental relational counselling (DRC)‟
helps men in developing a more accurate perception of themselves and
others, and in turn develop deeper levels of compassion towards
themselves and others.
Issues and challenges faced by sexual and gender minorities [Lesbian,
Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender (LGBT)] are also addressed in this unit.
Queer affirmative counselling encompasses the lives and narratives of the
LGBT clients, through their politics, struggles, lived realities and felt
experiences. In this unit, we discussed how people from the LGBT
community face oppression, stigmatization, and even exclusion in society.
There is also the experience of confusion and conflict that comes along
with growing with this identity, especially when the family does not
support, the stress to hide it, and also the anxiety to reveal one‟s gender
and sexual identity. Issues they face include experiences of isolation,
stigmatization, and humiliation by peers, troubled relationships with
parents, career planning and decision making which are related to
experiences of prejudice, social exclusion and stereotypes. Through
intensive queer affirmative training, counselors can resolve their
stereotypes, prejudice, and discomfort, and learn to understand and work
effectively with the queer population. They can help this population
(LGBT) deal with the stigma they experience in society, even maybe
internalized by LGBT themselves leading to self-defeating thoughts, self- 121
Counselling Psychology criticism, self-hate, guilt and fear in them. Counselling helps them accept
their own sexual or transgender identity and move on to resolve related
conflicts by asserting their identity. We also discussed the social
empowerment model (SEM) for gay and lesbian clients in counselling and
the gender role conflict (GRC) model for working with transgender clients
in this context.
Thus, we learned the role of counselors in each context. Counselors must
value differences, and recognize the unfairness and oppression clients may
be subjected to. The counselors must also show awareness about the
challenges that clients face as a result of belonging to a particular social
group, considering their specific needs. We also learned about differential
approaches to counselling some diverse groups.
7.7 REFERENCES
1) Duffey, T., & Haberstroh, S. (2014). Developmental relational
counseling: Applications for counseling men. Journal of Counseling
& Development, 92(1), 104-113.
*****
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8
COUNSELLING IN DIVERSE GROUPS - II
Unit Structure
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction to Abuse
8.2 The Cycle of Abuse
8.3 Interpersonal Abuse
8.3.1 Child Abuse
8.3.2 Sibling Abuse
8.3.3 Spouse and Partner Abuse
8.3.4 Older Adult Abuse
8.3.5 Preventing and Treating Interpersonal Abuse
8.4 Intrapersonal Abuse and Addiction
8.4.1 Physiological Abuse and Addiction
8.4.2 The General Nature of Substance Abuse and Addiction
8.4.3 Treating Substance Abuse and Addiction
8.4.4 Treatment of Alcohol Abuse/Misuse and Addiction
8.4.5 Treating Nicotine Abuse and Addiction
8.4.6 Treating Drug Abuse and Addiction
8.5 Process Addictions
8.5.1 Compulsive Gambling
8.5.2 Treating compulsive Gambling
8.5.3 Work Addiction (Workaholism)
8.5.4 Treating work addiction
8.5.5 Internet Addiction
8.5.6 Treating Internet Addiction
8.6 Treating Women and Minority Cultural Groups in Abuse and
Addiction
8.7 Summary
8.8 Questions- Improve your Grade
8.9 References
8.0 OBJECTIVES
To explain the nature of abuse and types of abuse.
To give an understanding of substance abuse and addiction and its
treatment.
To examine compulsive addiction in its treatment.
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To give an overview of other issues in addiction, such as work Counselling in Diverse
addictions, internet addiction and diversity issues in addiction. Groups – II
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Counselling Psychology
127
Counselling Psychology In an extensive literature review, Elam and Kleist (1999) examine the long
term effects of child abuse. Research shows that victims of child abuse
grew up to have various psychosocial issues in adulthood, such as
problems in emotional processing, inability to relate to others, reduced
ability for social functioning, violence and other aggressive behaviours,
antisocial behaviours, and difficulties in interpersonal functioning and
problems in intimate relationships. They may also have various mental
health problems, such as depression and mood disorders, anxiety, self-
esteem issues, dissociative tendencies, PTSD, sexual problems etc.
However, symptoms in various conditions in adulthood should not
necessarily be understood as a direct outcome of child abuse. They are
also more likely to indulge in self-destructive behaviours, such as self-
harm and suicidal behaviours, excessive risk-taking, eating disorders,
substance abuse and other forms of addictions.
The most disturbing fact is that some of the most horrible forms of
physical abuse in children happen at home, by family members or
someone in a close relationship with them. Sometimes in Indian
households „physical punishment‟ to the child in terms of slapping or
beating them with a cane or belt may not be considered physical abuse,
and may also receive societal acceptance. The societal belief here may
resemble the famous proverb „spare the rod and spoil the child‟ which
means children who are not physically punished when they do something
wrong, would run the risk of developing into someone worse. The
dreadfulness of such punishments or acts of abuse may vary from kicking
the child, tying and beating the child, throwing objects at the child,
banging the child‟s head on a surface, burns, suffocating the child etc. The
physical effects of which may vary from cuts and bruises, bleeding, scars,
swellings, fractures, head trauma etc. Sometimes it may be so harmful that
it may even lead to death. The psychological impact of such acts has
already been discussed above.
As discussed earlier, one of the most distressing experiences for the child
could be sexual abuse. According to the American Psychological
Association, “Sexual abuse is unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators
using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give
consent”. The perpetrators are mostly adults, but can also be adolescents.
Many times, the perpetrators may be people known to the child, to whom
the child may more likely find themselves alone or about whom the child
might even find it difficult to report the incident to either parents or some
other authority figures. Most of the time, sexual abuse happens in places
where the child is supposed to feel the safest, for example, at home or
school. Here the victims may be both female or even male children.
In India, according to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences
(POCSO) Act, 2012, sexual offences could include the following:
• Penetrative Sexual Assault can include different penetrative sexual
activities, even the use of objects for the same, or oral sexual acts. It
could even include forcing the child to do it with someone else.
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• Sexual assault includes touching the child or making the child touch Counselling in Diverse
them or somebody else in an inappropriate way. Groups – II
Child Pornography
The traumatic or distressful effects of sexual abuse could be both short
term/ immediate and even long term, which may carry forward to even
adulthood. Some of these long term effects seen in adolescence and
adulthood could be sexual disturbance or dysfunction, difficulties in
sexual functioning or even having intimate relationships. Psychological
effects could include depression, fear, anxiety, suicidal ideation and
borderline personality issues (Beitchman et al. 1992)
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Counselling Psychology 8.3.3 Spouse and Partner Abuse:
This form of abuse is, many times, referred to by many names, such as
domestic violence, intimate partner violence etc. By „partner‟, here, we
also refer to intimate relationships with a romantic partner or dating
relationships, and not necessarily married couples. In most cases, these
acts of abuse or patterns of aggressive/abusive behaviour may be
committed and maintained in order to exhibit a sense of power and control
over the partner. However, there could be other causes of such abusive
relationships which are rooted in the effects of addictions, low-self esteem,
personality disorders, emotional management and regulation issues,
displacement of stress or anger etc.
In India, The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act
(PWDVA) 2005, gives a comprehensive conceptualisation of what
domestic violence entails. According to the Act, domestic violence is
evident when the perpetrator engages in omission or commission or
conduct of any of these types :
• Harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-
being, whether mental or physical and includes causing physical
abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse.
• Harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a
view to pressurize her, or any other person related to her, to meet any
unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable
security.
• Has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person
related to her by any conduct mentioned.
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Counselling Psychology 8.4.4 Treatment of Alcohol Abuse/Misuse and Addiction:
Alcohol addiction may be more common than it seems for the very fact it
may exist under the pretext of socializing behaviours, age-appropriate
behaviour, peer activities, and recreational or relaxing escapism from the
daily hassles or more prominent stressors in life. Alcohol-based on its
effects is a „depressant‟ which decreases arousal, lowers anxiety, and
calms the nerves. Hence,, sometimes it may be difficult to explain to
people how it costs health and well-being and overdo the benefits people
yield from the consumption. Furthermore, as depressants dizziness,
disorientation, and poor concentration and coordination can affect
people‟s professional and personal functioning, and can also cause a lapse
in judgement and make a person more accident-prone. Hence,,, people
may realize the extent of their addiction, and the need to get de-addicted
when the consequences are serious; such as a severe health condition, for
example, liver cirrhosis or a temporary or permanent disability caused due
to an accident. Another serious consequence of alcoholism is financial
losses incurred directly due to the cost of alcohol consumption and related
behaviours or indirectly due to a lapse in financial management. People
over time may also come to realize the familial distress caused due to their
drinking behaviour.
According to Berglund et al. (2003), treatment of alcohol addiction can
incorporate various approaches. Firstly, it may focus on the early detection
of people who are engaged in excessive consumption of alcohol, wherein
the treatment orientation is brief and preventive in nature. Secondly,
treatment of withdrawal, a medical drug-based treatment aimed at
reducing the withdrawal symptoms, which are more evident in moderate
to severe addiction levels. Thirdly, psychosocial treatment for alcohol
problems with the emphasis on motivation-enhancing interventions,
cognitive behavioural therapy, structured interaction therapy, community-
based reinforcement, 12-step treatment by alcoholics anonymous (AA),
supportive counselling and social work interventions. And lastly
pharmacological treatment of alcohol dependence by using aversive agents
to induce aversive reactions to alcohol intake, counter conditioning the
previously pleasurable experiences related to alcohol, which is likely to
decrease the propensity of alcohol consumption in the patient.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has been an alcohol treatment that revolves
around the world and has successfully helped alcoholics through support
group interventions. Previously addicted alcoholics recognize that they
may always be at risk of relapsing into alcohol consumption and Hence,,
continue to participate in the support group activities despite being sober.
Here, they use their experiences to guide patients who have joined the
programme recently. Continuous support and learning from fellow
alcoholics; personal recognition of alcoholism as a disease and the need
for personal responsibility to cure oneself; and a spiritually inclined 12
step-treatment approach form the core of the AA programme. Here
individuals are encouraged to face their addiction, be honest, feel
vulnerable and share their stories of what led them towards alcoholism,
how their addiction affected their life and their loved ones and their
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journey towards being sober. It may also include providing advice based Counselling in Diverse
on experiential knowledge gained. As seen in support groups or even Groups – II
group therapy, this approach helps the alcoholic gain insights and newer
perspectives towards their condition, and make new friends who will
support them in their recovery process.
For treatment to be successful one must also recognize that alcoholism is
not only an individual problem, it can be facilitated, triggered, and
maintained, and also may affect the immediate social world of the patient.
O'Farrell and Fals‐Stewart (2003) suggest that Marital and Family
Therapy (MFT) Hence,, becomes of utmost importance in alcoholism
treatment. According to them, MFT is found to increase patients‟ self-
discipline and enhance the quality of the relationships among family
members. It also helps family members cope better with the stressful
familial environment caused due to alcoholism. Family members are also
in a position to encourage the alcoholic to take up treatment and remain
committed to it. Approaches, such as Behavioural Couples Therapy
(BCT), have also been found to reduce the emotional problems of the
couples and their children, and also lessen domestic violence which is a
consequence of alcoholism.
Setting goals:
As the media of internet usage are so easily available, goals which are not
well-defined may not serve the purpose. Hence,,, goals must be very
clearly stated, and a schedule of internet use should be made, wherein a
person can use the internet only within the time assigned for it. Initially
one must start with frequent time slots which are brief, so that there is
some monitoring of internet use.
Reminder cards:
Writing on cards the negative effects of internet use (e.g. wasting time)
and potential benefit of limiting the time of internet use (e.g. can
completing one‟s work on time) and also carrying the cards around, so that
it can act as a constant reminder.
Personal inventory:
Being constantly occupied with the internet leads to neglect of other
important tasks, hobbies or interests. Making a record of such interests and
thinking about one‟s life in those terms, may help a person consider and
incorporate these forgotten interests and hobbies and replace them with
internet activities.
Abstinence/Withdrawal:
A person may identify certain applications, games or websites frequently
used and choose to withdraw from their use, thereby reducing the time
spent on the internet and urge to use the application.
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As seen in other addictions, the use of psychotherapy, such as cognitive Counselling in Diverse
behaviour therapy, family therapy and use of self-help groups are found to Groups – II
be helpful. Psychotherapy would help people reduce their internet use, and
develop more adaptive habits to engage more in non-internet activities. It
would also facilitate better communication between family members,
which in turn would be a good support factor in the recovery process.
8.7 SUMMARY
The idea of abuse relates to the overuse, misuse of something or
overindulgence in some cruel or improper behaviour that is likely to cause
harm to self and others. In this chapter, we focused on understanding the
nature of addiction, the cycle of addiction and how to break this cycle by
identifying and addressing underlying root causes and addressing them
through counselling interventions. Abuse has been broadly discussed in
two types: i) „interpersonal abuse‟, wherein harm is directed outwards
upon someone else, which can include child abuse, intimate partner abuse
or domestic abuse or even abuse of the elderly, and ii) „intrapersonal
abuse‟ where the harm is mainly is caused to oneself knowingly or
unknowingly, which can include substance abuse, or other forms of
behavioural addictions related to gambling, internet or even to work.
In interpersonal abuse, that is, person to person abuse, we addressed issues
such as child abuse, sibling abuse, spouse/partner abuse, and older adult
abuse. We attempted to understand the nature of abuse in each type in
terms of verbal, physical and sexual abuse, and also neglect which is
considered an abusive act too. It has been clear through the deliberations
that traumatic or distressful effects of abuse could be both short term/
immediate and even long term. Identification and prevention of abuse
require an educative and behavioural approach.
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Counselling Psychology In intrapersonal abuse, the action of abuse of some form directs harm or
causes distress towards the self. Here, we discussed the idea of addiction
which affects both our brain and behaviour, causing not only
psychological but also physical dependence on an addictive substance.
Lastly, we also discuss what we call „process addictions‟ or „behavioural
addictions‟, such as compulsive gambling, work addiction etc.
In „substance abuse‟, the damaging consequences could be at a physical
level, psychological and emotional level, and social level. However, these
damaging consequences also lead to distress, embarrassment and pain for
family members and loved ones. Substance abuse sometimes can lead
people to get into problems with the law. To deal with substance abuse at
the individual level and familial level many NGOs, de-addiction centres,
hospitals and therapists have been working both on preventive and
remediation approaches. At the societal level too, these types of
organizations have been playing a role. However, the major influence at
the societal level is the action of the State. In this chapter, we have
discussed the nature of and treatment approaches to drug abuse, alcohol
abuse and nicotine abuse. Treatment has been discussed in terms of
important considerations for treatment, challenges to treatment and
understanding of the purpose of pharmacological treatment. Most
importantly the use of psychosocial interventions and training, self-help
groups and psychotherapy have also been discussed. Initiatives taken by
the Government of India such as the „mCessation programme‟ and the
„Drug De-addiction Programme (DDAP) have also been touched upon.
In this chapter, we also focused on three types of process addictions,
which are compulsive gambling, and internet and work addictions.
Behaviours get addictive when they have the potential to give some type
of pleasure or reduce the effect of negative emotions. In each of the three
types of behavioural addictions, we focussed on what behavioural
addiction means and what aspects of the behaviour and related factors
make it addictive in nature. In the treatment of behavioural or process
addictions, pharmacological interventions are mostly not used, Hence,
other approaches, such as aversion therapy, psychotherapy, family systems
therapy and self-help groups have been discussed. Behavioural and
lifestyle changes are also emphasized.
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